Sp02 Final Exam Review: MVC vs. Morphic

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Sp02 Final Exam Review: MVC vs. Morphic

Suggestion: Answer this one. Mark Guzdial

a. Name an application where MVC is preferable to Morphic.

I would think of something that would have the views swapped in and out really often without changing the model and controller at all. If I am a clock fanatic and wants to swap in out out analog view and digital view, and other unthinkable kinds of view, MVC would be a ideal choice over Morphic.Jonathan Broomfield

Would you like to run Morphic on a Palm? Mark Guzdial

b. Name an application where Morphic is preferable to MVC.

As we all know Morphic is far more powerful when it comes to multimedia support, I would think of something similar to windows media player, where it constantly has to deal with sound and video stuff. Jonathan Broomfield

c. Identify three major design differences between Morphic and MVC.

Morphic objects are uniform, ie they all have base morphic behavior.
Morphic objects can be composed of smaller morphic subcomponents.
Morphic requires an environment that MVC does not, so it isn't as "bare bones" as MVC.

Jonathan Broomfield

I didn't grok that last point... Consider others, e.g., "step"? Mark Guzdial

(Taken from final review Fall 2001)

You don't get to use past final reviews on the actual final. You're only allowed in with your brain. Might want to exercise that rather than the search function :-) Mark Guzdial

d. Can you use the MVC Paradigm in Morphic? Why or why not?

Nobody knows? Think about "step" and dependents and controllers. Mark Guzdial

e. Name at least one commercial UI package today that is based on the MVC paradigm.

I believe Java uses MVC paradigm, because in CS1322 we were made to code something using MVC paradigm, and the language used was Java. Can someone confirm this? Jonathan Broomfield

Think Swing... Mark Guzdial

Java also has the class java.util.Observable and interface java.util.Observer. Models extend Observable (which gives methods addObserver, setChanged, and notifyObservers, among others) and Views implement Observer's update method. Someone calls model.addObserver(view) and then every time the model's setChanged and notifyObservers are called, update is magically invoked on all listening Observers.

Michael L. Mitchell

a. Name an application where MVC is preferable to Morphic.

Any application that needs to be fast and does not need to look too pretty. Also something that would require the data to be presented in different ways(Multiple Views - One model) should be done in the MVC paradigm. Maybe a user interface for a cellphone, where there are fewer resources to work with.

b. Name an application where Morphic is preferable to MVC.

This is pretty much the opposite of part 'a'. If you are not worried about the speed and the amount of code but want the look to be prettier, Morphic is the way to go.A good application would be maybe a game or something graphic intensive.

c. Identify three major design differences between Morphic and MVC.

In MVC there is one active controller while the others are sitting around.
While MVC explicitly allows for the model and the view and the Controller to be separate, Morphic combines the three.

Does it have to? What parts are DEFINITELY combined, and what parts CAN be combined? Mark Guzdial

Morphic components do not HAVE to have an underlying model.

Well said. Mark Guzdial

d. Can you use the MVC Paradigm in Morphic? Why or why not?

I know you can certainly use the MVC paradigm in Morphic. I am not sure about the why or how it is possible. Need some help on this one.

e. Name at least one commercial UI package today that is based on the MVC paradigm.

I think the Swing components of the Java Foundation Classes are based on MVC.

Some of these answers have been combined with answers from previous terms.
Jai Kejriwal

Does morphic combine the View and the Control? That is the View and the Control are definitley combined. I think that is the case but am unsure.

Randy Rockinson

I agree with all of these answers but I would have to add to d.
d.Yes, you can use the MVC paradigm in Morphic. The only thing is that in Morphic the controller is actually built in to the Handmorph class which is part of the world. So you really don't have to create a controller. Although it can be done with a lot of work.
Eric Soto

a. Name an application where MVC is preferable to Morphic.

Running morphic on a palm wouldn't make sense because MVC is more lightweight, more portable, and Morphic would allow multiple view to be active at once, but a palm only has one window so that is not necessary.

b. Name an application where Morphic is preferable to MVC.

Again, Morphic can have multiple windows (morphs) active at the same time, which is how multiple little images in a Flash movie can all move. Basically anything with animation or multimedia is better in Morphic.
e.g. Making a ball bouncing animation (just like in the Squeak book)

c. Identify three major design differences between Morphic and MVC.

1. In Morphic the cursor is a HandMorph, so there can be more than one cursor and thus more than one person interacting with the Morphic World at any time.

2. MVC allows multiple views of the same Model.

3. MVC keeps the Model, View and Control separate, in Morphic the Model and View are merged by default and must be separated if the programmer chooses to do so.

d. Can you use the MVC Paradigm in Morphic? Why or why not?

"Morphic interfaces don't necessarily have to follow the MVC paradigm, but they can."
http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/uploads/ programmingmorphic.pdf

"The most interesting philosophical difference I've noticed between
Morphic and MVC, is that a Morph is never in full control of the UI.
This is different from MVC, where the Controllers all take turns running the ship.
Lex"
http://squeak.cs.uiuc.edu/mail/squeak/msg00108.html

More on what lex was saying,

"The World PasteUpMorph does something very important: It runs doOneCycleNow repeatedly. This method updates the cursors, processes user interface events for the given cursor, runs step methods, and updates the display"
http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/uploads/programmingmorphic.pdf

e. Name at least one commercial UI package today that is based on the MVC paradigm.

"The Java Swing UI, for example, is based on MVC"
"http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/1767"
Hank Wilde

You're right – the controller and view are merged in Morphic. Can you do models and dependents in Morphic? Sure! Do people do that normally? Nah – most Morphic interfaces poll the model or merge the model and the view. So you CAN do MVC Paradigm in Morphic (caveat the lack of controllers – the important part is the Model-View communication), but you can also NOT do it. Mark Guzdial

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Final Exam Review - Spring 2002 last edited on 26 April 2002 at 2:20 am by r75h51.res.gatech.edu