Factory pattern

A design pattern that provides an interface for creating objects without specifying their exact classes, allowing the factory to decide which class to instantiate based on given parameters. This promotes loose coupling by eliminating the need for client code to know specific class names.

Named after manufacturing factories that produce different products using the same production interface, first formalized in the Gang of Four book (1994). The pattern emerged from the need to create objects dynamically without hardcoding class dependencies.