[Newbies] what's a model?

[tjohnson at iwu.edu]

Aidan,

A "model" is the logic of your program.  Generally, it is the abstract concept that your UI 
attempts to present to the user.  For example, if you are creating a personal finance 
program, your model might consist of objects like BankAccount and Transaction, whereas 
your UI might consist of BankAccountView and TransactionView.

"Model" is one third of the time-tested concept of Model-View-Controller, which is a 
"pattern" for creating programs with user interfaces.  If you search for MVC on the web, you 
should find some pretty useful information.  Generally the theory behind MVC is that your 
application's logic (or model) should be separate from its interface / presentation (view).  The 
controller would be some "glue" which mediates between the model and the view, but often 
the controller is sort of melded into the view these days.

Squeak does include a class called Model, which is abstract and not much used these days.  
Best not be distracted by it.

Hope that helps!  Have you looked at some of the great Morphic tutorials on the web?  I 
found the chapter in Squeak By Example very informative.

- TimJ

----- Original Message -----
From: Aidan Gauland <wgsilkie at ihug.co.nz>
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9:55 pm
Subject: [Newbies] what's a model?
To: beginners at lists.squeakfoundation.org

> Hello,
> 
>  I've been poking around on the web for information on how to 
> build GUIs 
> using Morphic's widget-like morphs, and I've found some helpful 
> stuff, but a 
> term that I see used a lot in this context is "model", which I 
> still can't 
> figure out.
> 
> So my question is: "What's a model in Squeak?  How do I use them 
> with Morphs?"
> 
> Thanks,
> Aidan
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