What is MVC Framework
Model-View-Controller or MVC is an architectural pattern that is composed of three main components: View, Controller, and Model. It is a lightweight framework most commonly utilized in web and application development. This architecture can be implemented with a host of programming languages like PHP, JavaScript, Python, etc.
As mentioned earlier, there are three major components of this architectural pattern: Model, View, and Controller. The following passage explains these sub-parts in detail:
View
The View is like a Graphical User Interface (GUI) as it involves representing data in the form of diagrams or flow charts. A View is responsible for displaying the data in a human-readable format. The data gathered via the model component helps in creating Views. Visualize the HTML/CSS part of a website to understand the View component of the MVC architecture.
Controller
Regarded as the main component, the Controller performs the role of a middleman by facilitating the communication between Views and the Model. Since Views and Models are unable to interact with each other directly, the Controller receives data from the Model and passes this information to the View. To be more specific, user interaction is handled and managed by the Controller as it provides instruction to the Model and View after interpretation of the user’s input.
Model
This component deals with data storage and data-related logic. The Model represents the application’s data and business logic. Its main objective is to respond to requests from Views and instructions from Controller and assume responsibility for maintaining the data.
Key Benefits of MVC
- Easy to maintain the codebase reducing the risk of bugs.
- MVC’s distribution of roles makes the final product more Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly.
- This framework speeds up the development process as developers can deal with separate parts of the application simultaneously.
- MVC architecture can be adopted for developing various types of mobile, desktop, and web applications.
- Since it allows code reusability, this framework can significantly reduce development costs.
- Much more straightforward to learn as compared to other frameworks.
- Reduces complexity by dividing the application into three distinct components.
- By enabling the separation of concerns and division of tasks, MVC makes Unit and Integration Testing much easier.
Cons of MVC
- For projects with changing requirements, MVC is not recommended.
- Additional layers of abstraction can sometimes lead to more complexity.
- MVC can be harder to implement with some programming languages.
- Not recommended for smaller applications.