builder pattern
compound.compound. a way of writing computer code that helps you create complex objects step by step. It makes the code easier to read because you can see exactly which parts are being added or changed.
compound. a creational design pattern that separates the construction of a complex object from its representation. This allows the same construction process to create different representations and improves readability by avoiding 'telescoping' constructors.
I used the builder pattern to create the user profile object.
By implementing the builder pattern, the development team made the configuration of the network client much more intuitive for other programmers.
The builder pattern is particularly effective when an object requires numerous optional parameters, as it provides a fluent interface that avoids the confusion of long, positional argument lists.
A compound of the English noun builder and the noun pattern, used in the sense of a recurring solution to a software design problem. The term was formalised in the 1994 book Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in object-oriented programming; often associated with 'fluent' interfaces where methods are chained together.
Last updated July 22, 2026