PHP frameworks

vaaaska

This space is reserved for folks to talk about what they know of frameworks. There are so many...I hear about at least one new one every week.

Are they really useful?
Can you build something big and decent with one?
Isn't it just alot of bloat (the extra layer on top of php)?

Shrike

Most of the ones I have tried have forced me to do things in a certain way which I've found restrictive. I've written several iterations of my own framework which does exactly what I want it to, but I'm sure if someone else used it they would feel it was too restrictive in some other way.

It is extra code and so extra processing time...but most people's opinion is that CPU cycles are cheap and programmers are expensive. So if a framework reduces the development time of an application it's doing it's job well.

Pretty soon we will have the Zend Framework to play with...lets hope it is nice, lightweight and open ended.

thorpe

yeah, im pretty much of the same opinion. tried a few, found them very restrictive, made my own.

vaaaska

I guess what I don't like, as you both mention, is that when I use a framework I'm buying into their way of doing things. So, when I create something new (which is probably 95% of the time) I'm forced to be all OOP when I personally find it complete overkill (more processing).

As far as saving time...it saves me time only if somebody has done it before me and I can use their code (not 95% newness). Otherwise, it takes me more time because I need to research their framework before I do anything.

Yeah...I have my own 'framework'...guess I'm proving my hypothesis here.

Will the Zend Framework really be worthy?

piersk

See, you say that, but it depends on how detailed the framework is. I use the .NET framework, and it has everything I need to do what I want. I don't actually feel like it's holding me back or that there's something that I want to do that I can't.

vaaaska

Piersk, I don't know anything about .net - could you elaborate?

Maybe I (we're) just being stubborn?