Impact of Design Patterns for Robust Applications

Design patterns are key to creating scalable and maintainable code. They act like well-tested recipes, enabling developers to follow established behavioral rules that allow code to expand in scope and functionality without requiring major changes. In Next.js, these patterns seamlessly integrate with server-side rendering (SSR) and dynamic page management.

In this essay, I will highlight some of the patterns I am actively using in an ICS 314 project, “Da Club,” a centralized hub for organizational management.

Singleton Pattern for Global State Management

In Da Club, I manage database connections using Prisma. By exporting a single prisma instance (Singleton Pattern), I ensure that the application efficiently handles database interactions without creating multiple connections:

export const prisma =
  globalForPrisma.prisma ||
  new PrismaClient({
    log: ['query'],
  });

This approach prevents resource exhaustion and provides a consistent interface for interacting with the database.

Repository Pattern for User and Club Management

Managing user and club records is another core function of Da Club. To ensure clean and maintainable code, it is essential to centralize and abstract database interactions into reusable functions. This is achieved using the Repository Pattern, which encapsulates the logic for creating, reading, updating, and deleting records in the PostgreSQL database.

Take one example from the database interactions utility (dbActions.ts):

'use server';

import { hash } from 'bcrypt';
import { prisma } from './prisma';

export async function createUser({
  credentials,
  user,
}: {
  credentials: { email: string; password: string };
  user: { firstName: string; lastName: string; email: string };
}): Promise<void> {
  const password = await hash(credentials.password, 10);
  await prisma.user.create({
    data: {
      email: user.email,
      password,
      firstName: user.firstName,
      lastName: user.lastName,
    },
  });
}

The createUser method demonstrates the Repository Pattern by providing a single, reusable utility for interacting with the database.

Observer Pattern in Next.js

The “reactivity” of Next.js is an excellent example of the Observer Pattern, where objects (observers) are notified of state changes.

With Next.js, components can dynamically fetch data on the server or client. When server-side data changes, the UI updates automatically during SSR, reflecting the latest state.

Why Do Design Patterns Matter?

Design patterns simplify complexity, bringing organization and maintainability to applications. They facilitate logic encapsulation, centralized control, and resource optimization. In Next.js, these patterns serve as indispensable tools for creating robust and scalable applications.