Difference between NSWindowController Vs NSViewController

Question

I am coming from iOS background and starting to learn Cocoa. On iOS unless we have multiple targets for iPad and iPhone

Answer 1

A Window Controller creates a traditional window and has all the traditional APIs.

A View Controller can also be shown outside of another view. It then gets a window frame but does not support the full traditional Window Controller API.

In addition to custom, modal, and show, a View Controller can also be presented in the modes sheet and popover.

So, View Controller has more presentation options and a more streamlined API but probably a few limitations in cases that are covered by the traditional Window Controller.