Here are some of the potential benefits of using the Service Locator pattern:
- Runtime optimization: The Service Locator pattern can optimize an application by dynamically detecting more optimized libraries or components to complete a specific service, depending on the runtime context.
- Simplicity: Service Locator is one of the most straightforward dependency management patterns to implement and doesn't have the steep learning curve of a dependency injection (DI) framework. Hence, you can quickly start using it in a project or teach it to colleagues.
Here are some drawbacks of using the Service Locator pattern:
- Black boxing: The Service Locator pattern's registry obfuscates class dependencies. Consequently, some issues might pop up at runtime instead of during compilation if dependencies are missing or incorrectly registered.
- Globally dependent: If overly used and with the wrong intentions, the Service Locator pattern can...
