PHP Framework

[Andrew Yurlov]

What is the best PHP based framework to get started with? I am new to this kind of thing, so im looking for something simple yet efficient and easy to use. What would you guys suggest?

[mlseim]

Not sure what PHP based framework means. Are you talking about something like WordPress or Joomla? Or something that you create yourself?

[Andrew Yurlov]

Not sure what PHP based framework means. Are you talking about something like WordPress or Joomla? Or something that you create yourself?

I'm talking about frameworks... Thinks like MVC, Yii, CakePHP.

[Kayo]

I've been told CodeIgniter is pretty good. I never dug deep into it, but it contains MVC, it's own ORM, zero config, and other rails-like goodness. At the same time, it's fairly light weight and runs faster compare to other frameworks.

[Andrew Yurlov]

I've been told CodeIgniter is pretty good. I never dug deep into it, but it contains MVC, it's own ORM, zero config, and other rails-like goodness. At the same time, it's fairly light weight and runs faster compare to other frameworks.

Ok, thanks! This was one of my mental choices too. After posting this thread I narrowed my search for a good framework down to CakePHP, Yii, and CodeIgniter.

I will deffinatly look more into CodeIgniter

[smoseley]

CodeIgniter and Cake are garbage. They don't use solid OO architecture in their core, and as a result, engender very bad development habits in their users.

If you want to learn solid OO skills that you can use for the rest of your life, go with Symfony or Zend 2. If you want "simple", go with Silex (a minimalist version of Symfony).

[Andrew Yurlov]

CodeIgniter and Cake are garbage. They don't use solid OO architecture in their core, and as a result, engender very bad development habits in their users.

If you want to learn solid OO skills that you can use for the rest of your life, go with Symfony or Zend 2. If you want "simple", go with Silex (a minimalist version of Symfony).

It seems everyone has different opinions on this. Looks like I will have to try a lot of frameworks before I find one that's right for me.

[smoseley]

It seems everyone has different opinions on this. Looks like I will have to try a lot of frameworks before I find one that's right for me.

Or you could take the advice from someone who's used all of them instead of heresay and save yourself the headache of trying them all.

[smoseley]

More info for you...

Why I prefer Zend 2 and Symfony over Cake and CodeIgniter:

1. PHP5 based, ground-up.
2. Lazy Loading instead of Pre-loading. Allows you to property instantiate objects with $x = new Y(); syntax instead of proprietary App::import("Y") or $uses = array("Y") type syntax. Also allows you to only load what you need for a particular action, reducing memory usage
3. The "Module" (Zend) or "Bundle" (Symfony) concept breaks up your MVC application into multiple self-contained MVC sub-modules. Much better for a larger site architecture.
4. Dependency Injection & Dependency Injection Containers allow you to architect a better OO application that's not completely dependent on a dictated development methodology.
5. Built-in Unit Testing with PHPUnit, and advanced debugging tools.
6. Built-in AJAX support.
7. ORM and Template Independence allows you to plug in components of your choice.
8. Twig Templating (default in Symfony) uses moustache-style syntax, allowing you to reuse templates between PHP and Javascript (for AJAX & SPA applications). Also, compiles to native PHP for good performance.
9. Developer communities with component-sharing allow you to easily find and download component libraries to do many common tasks.
10. Large, supportive, GROWING communities. Cake and CI are dwindling.

Cake and CI are popular not because they're good, but because they're easy to learn.

Do yourself a favor and go the harder route on this one. You'll be thankful you did in a couple years.

Don't take my word for it. Search Google and you'll find tons of support of my opinion:

• http://www.google.com/search?q=symfony+vs+codeigniter
• http://www.google.com/search?q=symfony+vs+cakephp
• http://www.google.com/search?q=zend+vs+codeigniter
• http://www.google.com/search?q=zend+vs+cakephp

[Andrew Yurlov]

More info for you...

Why I prefer Zend 2 and Symfony over Cake and CodeIgniter:

1. PHP5 based, ground-up.
2. Lazy Loading instead of Pre-loading. Allows you to property instantiate objects with $x = new Y(); syntax instead of proprietary App::import("Y") or $uses = array("Y") type syntax. Also allows you to only load what you need for a particular action, reducing memory usage
3. The "Module" (Zend) or "Bundle" (Symfony) concept breaks up your MVC application into multiple self-contained MVC sub-modules. Much better for a larger site architecture.
4. Dependency Injection & Dependency Injection Containers allow you to architect a better OO application that's not completely dependent on a dictated development methodology.
5. Built-in Unit Testing with PHPUnit, and advanced debugging tools.
6. Built-in AJAX support.
7. ORM and Template Independence allows you to plug in components of your choice.
8. Twig Templating (default in Symfony) uses moustache-style syntax, allowing you to reuse templates between PHP and Javascript (for AJAX & SPA applications). Also, compiles to native PHP for good performance.
9. Developer communities with component-sharing allow you to easily find and download component libraries to do many common tasks.
10. Large, supportive, GROWING communities. Cake and CI are dwindling.

Cake and CI are popular not because they're good, but because they're easy to learn.

Do yourself a favor and go the harder route on this one. You'll be thankful you did in a couple years.

Don't take my word for it. Search Google and you'll find tons of support of my opinion:

• http://www.google.com/search?q=symfony vs codeigniter
• http://www.google.com/search?q=symfony vs cakephp
• http://www.google.com/search?q=zend vs codeigniter
• http://www.google.com/search?q=zend vs cakephp

Wow. That's quite a list you got. Consider me convinced. Based on what you said, I think il try Symfony then zend and see which I like better. Thanks for the amazing answers too. They really put everything in perspective for me.