Model-View-Controller (MVC)

Learn about the MVC, a common architecture for applications.

history

defined by xerox in building the smalltalk-80 system

how does it separate concerns

separate the model of the data in memory FROM the presentation of that data to the user FROM the way the user manipulates the data

what does it do?

encourages the separation of interface from data by providing a new view/ controller onto the same data. changes in the model will propagate to the view no matter how they occur

how are user-driven and program-driven interaction the same in a sense?

MVC like architectures encourage allowing access to the same functionality through different modalities

what options do we encounter which are the same but different within a single modality?

different styles of GUI, different scripting languages

how do abstraction and polymorphism tie into this?

code against the general interface and allow multiple specialisations

how do microsoft word and powerpoint share components

refactoring, e.g., a shared spell checker that is written once and reused. it supports different languages and the correct one is loaded at run time

what cannot be shared across word and powerpoint?

help systems - it may be desirable to unify them but it may be too confusing