This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Tara Timmerman
Hey, we've all been there. You're hyped to build something awesome, and "architecture" feels like homework you can skip. But imagine building something you genuinely love, then watching it become a tangled mess because you didn't quite know how to keep it organized. Or, worse, someone else tries to help, and it's pure chaos.
Good news: it doesn't have to be that way. Learning a little bit about how to structure your code can save you a ton of headaches (and future tears).
What Is Architecture?
It's just structure. Think of it like organizing your playlists, but for your code, it's about how all those files and pieces work together. It's a way to keep your code from turning into a spaghetti monster 3 weeks from now.
Done right, it makes your code easier to:
- Maintain, because no project is ever really “done”
- Expand, because of course you’re going to add that feature
- Understand, because future-you deserves mercy
Meet MVC
One of the most well-established patterns out there is MVC: Model–View–Controller. It’s been around forever, and for good reason... it works.
Why learn MVC (or any architecture pattern) before a frontend framework?
React, Angular, Vue, they all enforce some kind of architecture for you. But if you don’t already understand why that structure matters, or how to do it from scratch, you’re going to hit a ceiling fast.
If you can pull off a tiny app in vanilla JS using MVC, you’ll be 10× more confident later. You'll also stop mistaking “framework magic” for “your own genius.” Ask me how I know.
The Five Moving Parts
Regardless of the pattern, you’ll generally have five moving parts:
- Presentation Logic (UI Layer): Displays stuff on screen. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Application Logic (Router): Responds to navigation and UI events. Maps user actions to app behavior.
- Business Logic: Solves actual business problems like matching you with the perfect TikTok sound, calculating XP for your game, or splitting your Venmo bill.
- State: Keeps track of your app’s data. Ideally without losing its mind when the user clicks around too much.
- HTTP Library: Handles sending/receiving data (optional, but in real-world apps, almost always necessary).
Mapping It to MVC
| MVC Layer | What It Does | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Model | The brain | Business Logic, State |
| View | The face | Presentation Logic |
| Controller | The glue | Application Logic |
| (Utility) | (Communication) | HTTP Library |
The Controller is the bridge between the Model and the View. The Model knows nothing about the View, and vice versa. Data flows from the Model → Controller → View. The Controller also listens for user actions and decides what needs to happen.
Why I Bothered Learning This
I didn’t always get this stuff. I came out of a 7-month bootcamp fast-tracked straight into frameworks. I could build fast, but I didn’t really understand where JavaScript ended and the frameworks began.
The better I understood what JavaScript was doing on its own, the more I built maintainable, easy to debug web apps.
That’s why this stuff matters. When your project gets more complex, (more contributors, more features, more tools) architecture becomes your best friend. And when you understand the pieces underneath those frameworks, they stop feeling like mysterious magic tricks. You stop guessing, start debugging, and maybe even feel kind of powerful.
Go forth and architecture! 🙌
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Tara Timmerman
Tara Timmerman | Sciencx (2025-05-26T01:21:57+00:00) Architecture: Your future self will thank you. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/05/26/architecture-your-future-self-will-thank-you/
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