Introduction to MVC

MVC & Backend Development

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Lesson 1 25 min Free Preview

Introduction to MVC

Understanding the Model-View-Controller pattern

Introduction to MVC Architecture

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern is the backbone of modern web applications. It separates your application into three interconnected components.

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Why MVC Matters

Separation of Concerns: Each component has a single responsibility
Maintainability: Easier to update and debug
Testability: Components can be tested independently
Scalability: Teams can work on different parts simultaneously

The Three Components

📊 Model

Represents your data and business logic. Handles database operations, validation, and data transformations.

🖼️ View

Responsible for presentation. Displays data to users and handles the user interface.

🎮 Controller

Acts as the intermediary. Receives user input, processes it, and determines which Model and View to use.

How MVC Flow Works

┌─────────────┐     Request      ┌──────────────┐
│             │ ───────────────► │              │
│   Browser   │                  │  Controller  │
│             │ ◄─────────────── │              │
└─────────────┘     Response     └──────┬───────┘
                                        │
                         ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
                         │              │              │
                         ▼              ▼              ▼
                   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐
                   │  Model  │   │  View   │   │ Service │
                   │ (Data)  │   │ (HTML)  │   │ (Logic) │
                   └─────────┘   └─────────┘   └─────────┘

Quick Start: Your First MVC Request

Let's trace a simple request through an MVC application:

// 1. User visits: https://yourapp.com/users/123

// 2. Router matches the URL pattern
$router->get('/users/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show']);

// 3. Controller receives the request
class UserController {
    public function show($id) {
        // 4. Model fetches data
        $user = $this->userModel->find($id);
        
        // 5. View renders the response
        return view('users/show', ['user' => $user]);
    }
}

Real-World Example: Blog Application

// Model: src/Models/Post.php
class Post {
    public function getPublished(): array {
        return $this->db->select('posts', '*', [
            'status' => 'published',
            'ORDER' => ['created_at' => 'DESC']
        ]);
    }
}

// Controller: src/Controllers/BlogController.php  
class BlogController {
    public function index() {
        $posts = $this->postModel->getPublished();
        return view('blog/index', compact('posts'));
    }
}

// View: src/Views/blog/index.php
<?php foreach ($posts as $post): ?>
    <article>
        <h2><?= htmlspecialchars($post['title']) ?></h2>
        <p><?= htmlspecialchars($post['excerpt']) ?></p>
    </article>
<?php endforeach; ?>

MVC vs Other Patterns

Pattern	Best For	Complexity
MVC	Web applications, APIs	Medium
MVP	Desktop/Mobile apps	Medium
MVVM	Data-binding UIs	High

Useful Resources

🚀 Next Steps

In the next lesson, you'll learn how to organize your MVC project structure for maximum maintainability and scalability.

Project Structure