Phil Bernie Consulting

Rob Conery posted about why he thinks it’s important to learn MVC and I agree that it is important to learn MVC and his points are all valid. The point that’s missing though is this: So you can have an informed opinion on what the benefits are of MVC vs insert all other web technologies here.

Within MVC itself there are some interesting questions to answer like what MVC framework to use. There’s actually more than just the ASP.NET MVC framework, and even if you settle on ASP.NET MVC, you’d be wise to also evaluate the different viewengines,  the different controller conventions and the various routing styles.

If you get asked your opinion on whether MVC is going to be more suitable than WebForms for a new project you’re starting, there’s only one way you can truly answer that question with any authority and it’s from having a good understanding of what MVC offers. The best way to get that understanding is to learn it.

This holds true for pretty much any comparison. Is the Entity Framework more suitable than NHibernate? Is MSSQL server more suitable than Oracle? Are Macs more suitable than PC’s?

You can read as many articles as you want to get a general feel for what each has to offer, but the only way you’re going to get a truly valuable opinion is to roll up your sleeves and get dirty with the tools.

Even just building the most basic applications will tell you what the friction points are, what the benefits are, how this technology will require you to approach the problem and ultimately form your own opinion.

I agree with Rob, you should learn MVC, but I’m adding another reason to the list.