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#1 2007-04-17 2:34 pm
php frameworks
i'm going to be doing a huge web application and wanted to see what some of you had to say about PHP frameworks. i've been playing around with http://www.cakephp.org with some succuess. interested in seeing what else is out there and what some of the benefits/drawbacks are.
b
"The Fates lead he who will; he who won't, they drag." - Seneca
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#2 2007-04-17 6:37 pm
- registered_user
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Re: php frameworks
codeignitor looks nifty.
I haven't used it for anything though.
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#3 2007-04-18 12:30 am
Re: php frameworks
Not many drawbacks. Zend looks promising but still changing too much. Cake and CodeIgnitor look good - large and stable. Good user bases around each. I've stolen plenty from each 
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#5 2007-04-18 9:45 am
- Rozzlapeed
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Re: php frameworks
I used codeigniter a bit. It's probably got as much as you need. I really like the active record DB classes, which take advantage of method chaining. What I don't like about it is that it takes some work to do a Tiles-ish setup with reusable view-pieces. It doesn't seem set up well in that regard, but I don't think many MVC frameworks are.
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#6 2007-04-18 9:56 am
Re: php frameworks
Miles wrote:
b_dubb wrote:
interested in seeing what else is out there
*cough* Python or RoR.
*sputter*
the giant web app is due in three months and learning a new language / framework is out of the question
"The Fates lead he who will; he who won't, they drag." - Seneca
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#7 2007-04-18 11:15 am
Re: php frameworks
I've been messing with RoR, though casually, and don't think it is that hard... but then I already know a lot of PHP.
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#8 2007-04-18 3:42 pm
Re: php frameworks
another drawback to RoR is resource overhead. Ruby needs a lot of processor power to run an app.
the app i'm building is going to be be BIG. and it will probably live on the same server as at least one other app (joomla site) and maybe others. RoR really needs a stand alone server for production. something i'm not going to have.
i've pretty much decided that i'm going with CakePHP for the framework.
"The Fates lead he who will; he who won't, they drag." - Seneca
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#9 2007-04-18 8:41 pm
- W2ttsy
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Re: php frameworks
with 3 months to go, i hope you have a fix on the framework. not a good time to start swapping now. could play silly buggers with your design specs or what resources the client has to run this thing on.
Was going to recommend smarty as it seems to be focused around the template side of things (i assume thats what you want this for). Cant say ive used the other two...
W2ttsy
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#10 2007-04-18 10:03 pm
- TonyPrevite
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Re: php frameworks
W2ttsy wrote:
Was going to recommend smarty as it seems to be focused around the template side of things (i assume thats what you want this for). Cant say ive used the other two...
Smarty != Framework
Framework == A set of tools to do common things such as user authentication, database access, file uploads, etc... without having to write code from scratch. Most frameworks use the MVC (model, view, controller) method to building apps.
Smarty == A template engine that can be used to separate code from presentation. Usually helpful when there is a separation between programmers and design folks.
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#11 2007-04-19 1:50 pm
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#12 2007-04-19 7:21 pm
Re: php frameworks
Ruby isn't a huge resource hog when set up proprerly. However, for a enterprise level site, it has drawbacks due to some weaknesses in the model. (supposed to be fixed in the next version)
CakePHP is really nice. It has many of the benefits of rails, plus a pretty high performance model layer.
It completely lacks the eglegance and simplicity of Rails though. (more accurately, the elegance of Ruby). It just feels overly verbose. $this->thing->otherthing->Blah(); and so on.
Also, there is a challenge with CakePHP. Because it is PHP, and because the structure can be a little daunting if you are new to it, many developers have a tendency to just bypass things and do things how you normally would. It is difficult sometimes, but it is really beneficial to stick with the MVC.
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#13 2007-04-19 10:15 pm
Re: php frameworks
The more I try to make a comfortable framework with PHP the more RoR looks like it'd just be a damn nice environment to work in. In fact, I'm actively learning RoR now to see if I could really replace PHP with it...
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#14 2007-04-20 8:56 am
- TonyPrevite
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Re: php frameworks
Gipetto wrote:
HI TONY!
Hey Gippy! I'm alive, can you believe it 
Heck, I even saw BuBu in here the other day.
Personally, I'm a fan of codeignitor over Cake.
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