Beginning JavaServer Pages™

Chapter 17. Model View Controller

While the understanding and knowledge of syntax, libraries, and configurations are very useful, the place that effective application design takes in your arsenal of skills is many orders of magnitude more important. Developers who can build scalable, changeable applications that meet their requirements are highly regarded. Developers who don't have these skills, or simply don't apply them, and punch out the easiest, quickest solution are deemed to be hacks, in the derogatory sense of the word.

This chapter introduces one of many important architectural concepts that assist in the development of applications that have to display an interface to a user of a system. This is the Model View Controller architecture (or MVC). MVC's structure offers significant benefits for Web applications, and being familiar with it will enhance your understanding of a far wider range of concepts, some of which use or have borrowed ideas from MVC.

Specifically, this chapter covers the following:

• A definition of MVC

• An example of an MVC Model 2 implementation

• An explanation of the components of MVC with respect to the example

As mentioned earlier, this chapter covers the MVC architectural concepts and not specific MVC frameworks. These frameworks are covered in Chapter 18, "Web Frameworks" (Spring and WebWork) and Chapter 19, "Struts Framework."

What Is MVC?

MVC is a design concept that attempts to separate an application into three distinct parts. One part is concerned with the ...