I'm relatively new to design patterns but I feel that I've got a good understanding of the MVC pattern and the advantages that this separation of code brings.

However, both times I've seen the MVC pattern in action (Magento and Joomla!), there is further specialization, with the view consisting of both a view class (Magento block) and a PHP template file. I would appreciate it if someone could explain the benefit of this split.

I'm also at a loss as to how to split my code between the view class and the template file. Sometimes I find myself writing what seems to be a redundant view class (in Joomla!) which simply accesses the model and then just makes the data available for the template. What code should appear in the template and what code should appear in the view class?