🎯 Strategy Design Pattern in Java — Explained with Real-Life Problem and Code

“Design patterns are solutions to recurring problems in software design. Think of them as time-tested blueprints.”

In this post, we’ll demystify the Strategy Design Pattern, walk through a real-world use case, and build a clean Java implementation. If you’re preparing for LLD interviews, learning design patterns, or aiming to write flexible and maintainable code, this one’s for you.

✅ What is the Strategy Design Pattern?

The Strategy Pattern is a behavioral design pattern that enables you to define a family of algorithms, encapsulate each one, and make them interchangeable. The key idea is to delegate the behavior to different strategy classes instead of hardcoding it.

🔁 Strategy pattern is all about choosing behavior at runtime.

🧠 Real Life Analogy

Think about a navigation app like Google Maps.

You want to go from Point A to Point B.
Based on conditions (fastest, least traffic, shortest), the route strategy changes.
The app uses a strategy (algorithm) to calculate the best route.

These strategies are:

🛣️ Fastest Route
🚗 Shortest Distance
🧭 Avoid Tolls

At runtime, the user picks the strategy.

📌 When to Use Strategy Pattern

Use the Strategy pattern when:

You have multiple algorithms for a specific task.
You want to switch between algorithms at runtime.
You want to reduce conditionals (if-else or switch).
You want to follow the Open/Closed Principle (OCP) – Open for extension, closed for modification.

💬 Example Problem Statement

🧾 Design a payment system where a user can pay using different payment methods — Credit Card, UPI, and PayPal. The system should allow selecting or switching payment strategy dynamically at runtime.

🛠️ Step by Step Java Implementation

Let’s implement this in Java using the Strategy Design Pattern.

Step 1: Create the Strategy Interface

public interface PaymentStrategy {
    void pay(double amount);
}

Step 2: Implement Different Strategies

public class CreditCardPayment implements PaymentStrategy {
    private String cardNumber;

    public CreditCardPayment(String cardNumber) {
        this.cardNumber = cardNumber;
    }

    @Override
    public void pay(double amount) {
        System.out.println("Paid ₹" + amount + " using Credit Card: " + cardNumber);
    }
}

public class UpiPayment implements PaymentStrategy {
    private String upiId;

    public UpiPayment(String upiId) {
        this.upiId = upiId;
    }

    @Override
    public void pay(double amount) {
        System.out.println("Paid ₹" + amount + " using UPI: " + upiId);
    }
}

public class PayPalPayment implements PaymentStrategy {
    private String email;

    public PayPalPayment(String email) {
        this.email = email;
    }

    @Override
    public void pay(double amount) {
        System.out.println("Paid ₹" + amount + " using PayPal: " + email);
    }
}

Step 3: Create the Context Class

public class PaymentContext {
    private PaymentStrategy strategy;

    // Allow strategy to be set at runtime
    public void setPaymentStrategy(PaymentStrategy strategy) {
        this.strategy = strategy;
    }

    public void payAmount(double amount) {
        if (strategy == null) {
            throw new IllegalStateException("Payment strategy not set.");
        }
        strategy.pay(amount);
    }
}

Step 4: Use in Main Class

public class StrategyPatternDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PaymentContext context = new PaymentContext();

        // Using Credit Card
        context.setPaymentStrategy(new CreditCardPayment("1234-5678-9012-3456"));
        context.payAmount(1500);

        // Switching to UPI
        context.setPaymentStrategy(new UpiPayment("zeeshan@upi"));
        context.payAmount(800);

        // Switching to PayPal
        context.setPaymentStrategy(new PayPalPayment("zeeshan@gmail.com"));
        context.payAmount(2000);
    }
}

🧭 UML Class Diagram

        +---------------------+
        |   PaymentStrategy   |<-- interface
        +---------------------+
                  ▲
       +----------+----------+
       |          |          |
+------------------+  +----------------+  +------------------+
| CreditCardPayment|  |   UpiPayment   |  |  PayPalPayment   |
+------------------+  +----------------+  +------------------+
       ▲
       |
+------------------+
|  PaymentContext  |
+------------------+
| - strategy       |
| +setStrategy()   |
| +payAmount()     |
+------------------+

🌟 Benefits of Strategy Pattern

Benefit	Description
✅ Open/Closed Principle	Add new strategies without modifying existing code
✅ Flexibility	Choose behavior at runtime
✅ Eliminate Conditionals	Replaces large if-else/switch blocks
✅ Reusability	Each strategy is a reusable, independent class

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Too many small classes if overused.
Wrong abstraction can lead to complexity.
Forgetting default/null strategies can cause runtime issues.

✅ Real-World Use Cases

Payment Gateways
Sorting Algorithms (e.g., Comparator)
Compression (ZIP, RAR, GZIP)
Authentication Strategies (OAuth, JWT, LDAP)
Route finding in GPS apps

🔚 Conclusion

The Strategy Pattern is a powerful way to inject flexibility into your application by decoupling algorithms from the context where they’re used. It's an essential tool in your LLD (Low-Level Design) toolkit, especially for interview prep and scalable production systems.

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Strategy Design Pattern in Java – A Complete Guide