Editing Adapter pattern (section)

=== UML class diagram ===
[[File:w3sDesign Adapter Design Pattern UML.jpg|frame|none|A sample UML class diagram for the adapter design pattern.<ref name="Structure"/>]]

In the above [[Unified Modeling Language|UML]] [[class diagram]], the <code>client</code> class that requires a <code>target</code> interface cannot reuse the <code>adaptee</code> class directly because its interface doesn't conform to the <code>target</code> interface.
Instead, the <code>client</code> works through an <code>adapter</code> class that implements the <code>target</code> interface in terms of <code>adaptee</code>:

* The <code>object adapter</code> way implements the <code>target</code> interface by delegating to an <code>adaptee</code> object at run-time (<code>adaptee.specificOperation()</code>). 
* The <code>class adapter</code> way implements the <code>target</code> interface by inheriting from an <code>adaptee</code> class at compile-time (<code>specificOperation()</code>).