Replace Subclass with Delegate

Symptom

A subclass that overrides several methods to implement variant behavior — `PremiumBooking extends Booking` overriding `charge()`, `discount()`, `notify()` with premium variants.

Goal

Behavior that varied via inheritance now varies via a delegate object that implements the variant interface.

Before the refactoring

class Booking { /* ... */ }
class PremiumBooking extends Booking {
/* overrides several methods */
}

After the refactoring

class Booking {
type; // 'standard' | premium delegate
charge() { return this.type.charge(this); }
}
Example source: Illustrative example written for this site, not a quotation from any source.
Pressure

Behavior can't change at runtime; combining variants requires multiple inheritance; the inheritance relationship may violate Liskov in subtle ways.

Tradeoff

Composition is more verbose at construction sites — accept the verbosity in exchange for the flexibility.

Relief

Variants can be combined or swapped at runtime; Liskov violations vanish; the hierarchy tree flattens.

Trap

Replacing every subclass with composition — including ones where the inheritance contract genuinely holds — pays construction-site verbosity for no real fit improvement.