MVC Really a Four Headed Pattern?

Question

Is it just me or is MVC really Model-View/Controller-View View-Model/Controller-Model with two distinct controllers?

Answer 1

They are all just flavors of the Mediator pattern as opposed to first class patterns anyway. As such, it's probably okay for two distinct flavors to have two distinct names.

Answer 2

I think that it often has two models, the base model model and the view-model, but it typically just has one controller.

Answer 3

I consider these patterns to be loose guidelines more than strict patterns. I use a lot of MVVM (introduced in WPF but works great with anything that supports a good 2-way binding framework), and I always see some kind of controller (or controllers) being used with it. Every project is different and has different needs based on size, purpose, etc.