MVP vs MVC vs MVVM - Choosing Web Architecture for your Project

If we look at the design patterns, MVC, MVP, and MVVM are considered as the three most popular options. Here MVC stands for Model-View-Controller, MVVM stands for Model-View-ViewModel and MVP stands for Model-View-Presenter. The use of such design patterns is to help in developing applications that have a loose architecture which is easy to maintain and test. They ensure to follow the best practices and play a leading role in application development. Such kind of development is focused on having UI code cleaner and manageable and to simplify the complex codes.

Different architecture presentation patterns

MVC pattern

MVC is the architecture pattern which was introduced in the 1970s and was the first and foremost option to be used for web application designing. MVC tries to let the developer build the application in a manner where the layers in concern are separated. This helps, in turn, to take away all the efforts needed to extend, test and maintain the application. In the normal traditional software development method, we make use of user control or write relevant code to include the view in the definition class. This process increases the size of view class among UI, data binding logic and business operations. To sum up, the MVC architecture pattern works towards making a code good code by reducing its size. It works on to make the codes easily manageable and cleaner.

There are three key parts in the MVC pattern design and they are: 

Model

The Model describes the business logic and it is characterized by a set of classes. It works on to design business rules for data on how the data is changed or handled.

View

The View here represents the UI components like HTML, CSS, jQuery, etc. The View displays the data which the controller sends back as a form of the result. The Model also can be converted into the UI using View.

Controller

For proceeding incoming requests, the controller is highly responsive. Through the Model to View, the Controller gets the data of the user. Between the Model and the View, the Controller acts as a facilitator.

Benefits of MVC pattern

Faster development process:

MVC architecture accelerates development in parallel. So if you are using it for your web app development project, a developer will be able to work on the view while another one will work on the controller at the same time. This will let you complete the project quicker than expected.

Ability to offer multiple views:

With the MVC model, it is possible to build multiple views for your model. As here, business logic and data are separated from the display, code duplication is very limited.

Supports asynchronous technique:

It is possible to integrate the MVC architecture with all popular JavaScript framework. This means you can use MVC architecture with site-specific browsers, PDF files and desktop widgets. It is possible to have apps build, which loads fast as MVC supports asynchronous technique.

Modification does not influence the complete model:

Even compared to the rules of the company, the user interface in the web application tends to change more. You keep making frequent changes like for the fonts, screen layouts, colors, and adding new device support for tablets or mobile phones.

MVC model returns data without any kind of formatting:

Without applying any formatting, MVC returns the data. This means the same components can be used and called for by using any interface.

SEO friendly development platform:

MVC design pattern offers support for web applications or web pages that are SEO friendly. This way, it is possible to come up with SEO-friendly URLs which can be used to generate more visits to the app or site.

MVP pattern

If you compare the MVP pattern with that of MVC, you will find a good number of similarities. Here in MVP, ‘P’ stands for Presenter. The page controls are managed and displayed by View. On behalf of the View, The Presenter is responsible for addressing all the UI events. Presenter collects all the input coming from the users and then moves it to the Model side to side, which then takes the result to the View.

It is from the logic end that the Presenter does all its work for gestures like directing through the navigation or pushing a button. When it comes to implementation, MVP is a compound pattern, but if you manage to apply it as an amazingly well-designed solution, it will offer you great benefits. In most of the cases, MVP is selected for ASP.NET Web Forms and Windows Forms applications. It can be used in Java applications and so is the right choice for Android developers.

There are three key parts in the MVP pattern design and they are: 

Model

As seen in the case of MVC, the Model here too is used to describe the business logic and it is characterized by a set of classes. It works on to design business rules for data on how the data is changed or handled.

View

Again, like in the case of MVC, the View here represents the UI components like HTML, CSS, jQuery, etc. The View displays the data which the controller sends back as a form of the result. The Model also can be converted into the UI using View.

Presenter

To address all the UI events on behalf of the View, the Presenter takes complete responsibility. The View provides the input from the user then the data is filtered with the help of Model and the result gets conveyed to the View. The Presenter and View are completely different things, but they make use of an interface to communicate with each other.

Benefits of MVP Architecture

Makes debugging easier for applications:

 It becomes easy to debug the applications as MVP introduces three different layers of abstractions. Here it is possible to carry out unit testing while developing the application as the business logic is entirely separate from View.

Code Reusability:

In case of MVP, you can have multiple presenters in order to control your Views and so the codes can be reused in a better way. Now, this can be quite beneficial as you will not do not have the plans to have a single presenter just to control different Views.

Enforces better separation of concerns:

MVP works by keeping the business logic and persistence logic separate out of the Activity and Fragment classes. This ensures the concerns are separated in a better way.

Model View View Model (MVVM) Pattern

It is from the MVC pattern that the MVVM has been defined. In the case of the MVVM pattern, you will find two-way data binding taking place between View and View-Model. Here inside the View-Model and to the View, it allows carrying out modifications automatically. In order to make changes in the View-Model, the View-Model makes use of the observer pattern. The MVVM pattern is mostly used by Silverlight, WPF, nRoute, Caliburn, etc.

There are three key parts in the MVVM pattern design and they are:

Model

As seen in the case of MVC and MVP, the Model here too is used to describe the business logic and a set of classes characterizes it. It works on to design business rules for data on how the data is changed or handled.

View

Again, like in the case of MVC and MVP, the View here represents the UI components like HTML, CSS, jQuery, etc. The View displays the data which the controller sends back as a form of the result. The Model also can be converted into the UI using View.

ViewModel

It is the responsibility of the View-Model to present methods and functions. It needs to present commands to operate the model, uphold the state of the View and activate the events in the View.

Benefits of MVVM Architecture

Maintainability:

It will become possible to get into smaller and focused parts of the codes and make changes easily due to the separation of different kinds of code in a cleaner manner. This will help you to get ahead with new releases quickly and stay agile.

Testability:

In case of MVVM architecture, each and every part of the code remains granular. In case it is implemented in the proper manner, all the internal and external dependencies will stay remain from the code which contains the core logic of the application which you were planning to test. So if you are planning to write unit tests against the core logic, it becomes much easier. Just keep in mind to check whether it works well when written and keep on doing the same even when things are moved to the maintenance mode.

Extensibility:

Due to the increased granular pieces of code and separation boundaries, it at times gets mixed with maintainability. If you plan to reuse any of those parts, you have a better chance of getting it done. It also comes with the feature where you can add new pieces of code or replace the existing ones which do similar work at some places within the structure of the architecture.

No doubt the main purpose of opting for MVVM architecture is to abstract Views so that the code behind the business logic can be reduced to an extent. Some of the other benefits of MVVM are:

• The logic and Presentation layer is loosely coupled.
• Without any kind of awkward UI automation and interaction, you can test it.
• Than event-driven code or code-behind, the ViewModel is easy to carry out the unit test. 

Wrapping it up

So this article has covered all the major things regarding the MVC, MVP and MVVM architecture. Here in this post, we have seen the major parts of this design architecture as well as the benefits that these design patterns offer individually. When it comes to choosing the architecture for your project, you need to look into all the factors that fall in place to make the project a success in the market.