"MVC is well documented, and objectively defined."
In that case, almost nothing called MVC is MVC. For one thing, MVC has no network component to it, so anything involving client/server is automatically not using MVC, which immediately whacks what appears to be 90% of the claimed uses to me. A network layer is too important to the design of a program to just slip it in between one of the M-V or V-C or M-C layers as if it's no big deal.
I also personally consider it a critical component of MVC that it is the normal case that there are many-to-many relationships between all of the components, because otherwise, the pattern is pointlessly complicated for no gain. But it's very normal to have MVC where almost all, if not simply, all of the VC relationships are 1-to-1. You don't really have "MVC" if you have multiply-used models, but the VC element is degenerate in every use. It isn't particularly uncommon to have 1-to-1 relationships between the models either, although it is certainly the case that the models are most often reused. But then you just have data objects, not "MVC".
MVC works in CAD/CAM and similar situations, and is somewhere between "uselessly complicated" to "nonfunctional" in almost every other use case it has been ported to. (Jamming it in where it isn't necessary may "work", but is hardly a win for the pattern. Having "M" is not enough to have MVC.) Or, the term has stretched to the point where it's just useless.
In that case, almost nothing called MVC is MVC. For one thing, MVC has no network component to it, so anything involving client/server is automatically not using MVC, which immediately whacks what appears to be 90% of the claimed uses to me. A network layer is too important to the design of a program to just slip it in between one of the M-V or V-C or M-C layers as if it's no big deal.
I also personally consider it a critical component of MVC that it is the normal case that there are many-to-many relationships between all of the components, because otherwise, the pattern is pointlessly complicated for no gain. But it's very normal to have MVC where almost all, if not simply, all of the VC relationships are 1-to-1. You don't really have "MVC" if you have multiply-used models, but the VC element is degenerate in every use. It isn't particularly uncommon to have 1-to-1 relationships between the models either, although it is certainly the case that the models are most often reused. But then you just have data objects, not "MVC".
MVC works in CAD/CAM and similar situations, and is somewhere between "uselessly complicated" to "nonfunctional" in almost every other use case it has been ported to. (Jamming it in where it isn't necessary may "work", but is hardly a win for the pattern. Having "M" is not enough to have MVC.) Or, the term has stretched to the point where it's just useless.