Comparison
Front controllervsModel-view-controller
Front controller
every request in the application arrives at one handler first, and that is where authentication and routing live.
A single entry point that receives all requests and dispatches them, so cross-cutting concerns are handled once rather than per page. Every modern web framework's router and middleware pipeline is this pattern, which is why almost nobody implements it deliberately any more. It is worth naming because it explains where framework-level behaviour comes from when nothing in your handler mentions it.
Full entry →Model-view-controller
the browser posted to a controller, which changed the model and picked a view, and the view read the model itself.
Splitting an application into a model holding state and rules, views rendering it, and controllers handling input and choosing what happens next. The original desktop form had views observing the model directly; every server-side web framework calling itself MVC has dropped that half, so the acronym now means roughly 'request handler, template, and something behind them'. Being able to say which version you mean is most of what the interview question is after.
Full entry →