Video summary

Everything You NEED to Know About Client Architecture Patterns

Main summary

Key takeaways

Technology

Overview

The video explains common client-side architectural patterns—MVC, MVP, MVVM, MVMC, and VIPER—and contrasts how each structures the flow of a user action using a practical example: updating a user profile picture.

Shared concepts across patterns

  • View (V): what users interact with—renders content and captures user gestures/input.
  • Model (M): manages business logic and data—how data is stored and manipulated.
  • The “magic” is in the intermediary layer(s) (e.g., controller/presenter/view-model/router) that mediate between View and Model to avoid tight coupling.

MVC (Model–View–Controller)

  • Oldest/common baseline (described as ~half a century old).

Flow in the example

  1. User selects a new picture in the View.
  2. View → Controller: action is sent to the controller.
  3. Controller → Model: controller updates the model.
  4. Controller → View: controller tells the view to refresh display.

Tradeoff

As apps grow, controllers can become bloated because they handle too much.

MVP (Model–View–Presenter)

Introduces a more prominent Presenter to reduce controller bloat.

Presenter responsibilities

  • UI logic
  • transforming model data for display
  • handling user inputs
  • coordinating updates between model and view

Flow in the example

  • View notifies presenter → presenter updates model → presenter updates the view.

Benefits

  • View focuses on rendering (“pixels”)
  • Cleaner code and easier testing

MVVM / MVMV (Model–View–ViewModel)

Emphasizes data binding:

  • two-way binding between View and ViewModel
  • reduces need for explicit “refresh/update” calls

Flow in the example

  • View updates ViewModel via data binding (user selects image).
  • ViewModel persists changes to Model.
  • Model updates automatically reflect back to bound View properties.

Benefit

Less boilerplate and more streamlined synchronization, especially in reactive setups.

MVMC (Model–View–Model–Coordinator)

Builds on MVVM by adding a Coordinator layer for navigation/flow control.

Coordinator role

Manages transitions between screens and use cases (e.g., profile → image selection → back).

Key separation

  • ViewModel focuses on data handling
  • Coordinator handles saving/navigation logic

VIPER (high modularity / clean separation)

Breaks responsibilities into smaller components:

  • View: displays output and triggers user actions
  • Interactor: business logic (e.g., image update logic)
  • Presenter: prepares data for the View and updates view-facing state
  • Entity: raw data (model-equivalent)
  • Router: navigation
  • Claim: best for large/complex applications due to maximum separation and scalability.

Guidance: which pattern to choose

  • MVC: best for smaller/simpler projects where simplicity matters.
  • MVP: preferred when you need more testability.
  • MVVM or MVMC: shines in reactive programming / data binding scenarios (modern frameworks).
  • VIPER: go-to for large apps requiring strong separation and scalability.

Also notes:

Each pattern has a learning curve and affects the codebase differently; choice depends on app size, complexity, team expertise, and project challenges.

Main speakers/sources

  • Unspecified (no named speaker(s) or credited sources in the provided subtitles). The video appears to be hosted by an unnamed presenter, with an end mention of byby go.com for a system design newsletter.

Original video