Cocoa Programming for OS X: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

View Controllers vs. Window Controllers

Now that you have seen the two major controller patterns for Cocoa, you may be wondering: how do you know which one to use when? Furthermore, why are we only just now introducing view controllers?

For most of the applications in this book – applications with spartan, relatively static interfaces, unlikely to be developed past 1.0 – a window controller is perfectly suitable. Their controllers have been relatively focused and uncluttered.

Real world applications, however, like the kind you intend to write, will not be so simple. Their interfaces will have multiple areas of focus, they will grow over time and perhaps even be touched by several Cocoa programmers. For these applications, we ...