Web Development with Node and Express

Chapter 17. Implementing MVC in Express

We’ve covered a lot of ground by now, and if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, you’re not alone. This chapter will discuss some techniques to bring a little order to the madness.

One of the more popular development paradigms to come to prominence in recent years is the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. This is quite an old concept, actually, dating back to the 1970s. It’s experienced a resurgence thanks to its suitability for web development.

One of the biggest advantages of MVC that I’ve observed is a reduced ramp-up time on projects. For example, a PHP developer who’s familiar with MVC frameworks can jump into a .NET MVC project with surprising ease. The actual programming language is usually not so much a barrier as just knowing where to find stuff. MVC breaks down functionality into very well-defined realms, giving us a common framework for developing software.

In MVC, the model is a “pure” view of your data and logic. It does not concern itself with user interaction at all. Views convey models to the user, and the controller accepts user input, manipulates models, and chooses what view(s) to display. (I’ve often thought “coordinator” would be a better term than “controller”: after all, a controller does not sound like something that accepts user input, and yet this is one of the main responsibilities of the controller in an MVC project.)

MVC has spawned what seems like countless variations. Microsoft’s “model-view-view model” (MVVM) ...