{"id":"decorator-proves-composition-scalability","text":"The Decorator pattern provides concrete proof of composition's scalability advantage over inheritance: where n independent embellishments require up to 2^n subclasses via inheritance (combinatorial class explosion), Decorator requires only n+1 classes with arbitrary runtime combination — demonstrating that composition superiority is not merely a qualitative design preference but exhibits exponential practical advantage in the dimension of feature combination.","truth_value":"IN","source":"","source_url":"","source_hash":"","justifications":[{"type":"SL","antecedents":["decorator-avoids-inheritance-explosion","composition-superiority-for-reuse"],"outlist":[],"label":"Decorator's avoidance of class explosion quantifies composition's advantage as exponential, not just qualitative"}],"dependents":["composition-paradigm-doubly-validated","composition-scalability-empirically-validated-at-all-levels","decorator-forwarding-default-enables-composition-scaling","dual-proof-composition-prevents-explosion","template-method-inheritance-bounded-by-composition"],"metadata":{"source_type":"derived","review_result":"pass"},"created_at":"2026-06-17T19:05:07+00:00","updated_at":"2026-06-18T06:15:08+00:00","reviewed_at":"2026-06-18T06:15:08+00:00","verified_at":"","retracted_at":"","explanation":{"steps":[{"node":"decorator-proves-composition-scalability","truth_value":"IN","reason":"SL justification valid","antecedents":["decorator-avoids-inheritance-explosion","composition-superiority-for-reuse"],"label":"Decorator's avoidance of class explosion quantifies composition's advantage as exponential, not just qualitative"},{"node":"decorator-avoids-inheritance-explosion","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"},{"node":"composition-superiority-for-reuse","truth_value":"IN","reason":"SL justification valid","antecedents":["favor-composition-over-inheritance","inheritance-breaks-encapsulation","inheritance-compile-time-composition-run-time","delegation-composition-as-powerful-as-inheritance"],"label":"Four independent arguments converge on composition's superiority over inheritance"},{"node":"favor-composition-over-inheritance","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"},{"node":"inheritance-breaks-encapsulation","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"},{"node":"inheritance-compile-time-composition-run-time","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"},{"node":"delegation-composition-as-powerful-as-inheritance","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"}]}}