Middle Man

A class that only delegates.

“Half the methods’ only work is delegating to another object.” – Fowler & Beck

Signs of Use (Symptoms)

  • Class methods are one-liners that call the same method on a delegate.
  • No logic added; pure pass-through.

Why it is bad (Consequences)

  • Useless Indirection: Extra layer with no value.
  • Overhead: Another class to maintain.

Why it happens (Root Cause)

Over-application of “Hide Delegate” to fix Message Chains.

When it might be okay (Exceptions)

  • Decorator pattern (adds behavior).
  • Facade pattern (simplifies a complex API).

Explanation

Problem

Manager has 20 methods, all of which just call Employee.doSomething().

The Flaw

Manager adds no value. Why not talk to Employee directly?

Real world analogy

A receptionist who only says “Please hold” and transfers every call, adding no screening or value.

Refactoring Solution

  • Remove Middle Man: Client talks directly to the delegate.
  • Inline Class.

Pros and Cons (of the Antipattern)

Pros (Why people do it) Cons (The price you pay)
  • Encapsulation
    		•
  • Useless code
    		•

    Comparison

    • Related Antipatterns: Message Chains (opposite problem).
    • Related Principles: KISS.

    Code example

    Typescript

    Bad (The Antipattern)

    Good (The Fix)