What is the best practice when it comes to writing classes that might have to know about the user interface.

 

Wouldn't a class knowing how to draw itself break some best practices since it depends on what the user interface is (console, GUI, etc)?

In this case you can still use MVC/MVVM and inject different UI implementations using common interface:

public interface IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
   public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties);
   event EventHandler ChartPanned;
}

public class GuiChartDrawer : UserControl, IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
    public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties)
    {
        //GDI, GTK or something else...
    }
    
    //Implement event based on mouse actions
}

public class ConsoleChartDrawer : IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
    public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties)
    {
        //'Draw' using characters and symbols...
    }

    //Implement event based on keyboard actions
}

IAgnosticChartDrawing guiView = new GuiChartDrawer();
IAgnosticChartDrawing conView = new ConsoleChartDrawer();

Model model = new FinancialModel();

SampleController controllerGUI = new SampleController(model, guiView);
SampleController controllerConsole = new SampleController(model, conView);

This way you will be able to re-use your Controller and Model logic while being able to add new types of GUI.

What is the best practice when it comes to writing classes that might have to know about the user interface.

Wouldn't a class knowing how to draw itself break some best practices since it depends on what the user interface is (console, GUI, etc)?

In this case you can still use MVC/MVVM and inject different UI implementations using common interface:

public interface IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
   public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties);
   event EventHandler ChartPanned;
}

public class GuiChartDrawer : UserControl, IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
    public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties)
    {
        //GDI, GTK or something else...
    }
    
    //Implement event based on mouse actions
}

public class ConsoleChartDrawer : IAgnosticChartDrawing
{
    public void Draw(ChartProperties chartProperties)
    {
        //'Draw' using characters and symbols...
    }

    //Implement event based on keyboard actions
}

IAgnosticChartDrawing guiView = new GuiChartDrawer();
IAgnosticChartDrawing conView = new ConsoleChartDrawer();

Model model = new FinancialModel();

SampleController controllerGUI = new SampleController(model, guiView);
SampleController controllerConsole = new SampleController(model, conView);

This way you will be able to re-use your Controller and Model logic while being able to add new types of GUI.