PHP frameworks

[skaterdav85]

I heard about Zend and CodeIgniter before but someone recently told me what those actually were. I was wondering, which php frameworks are more widely used and which have an easier learning curve? I heard that I should start learning one of them if you wanted to do more back-end php work.

[real_illusions]

Why not take a look around the sites of the frameworks, see what each one does, and see which one is best suited to you. Some are much bigger therefore have a big learning curve but can be more flexible, whereas some have great support, others are specialists towards certain type of sites etc..The most ones that i know of:codeigniterzendcakephpkohanasymfonyruy on railsdjangopylonsturbogearsHave fun

[Synook]

Note that not all of those are for PHP :)Choosing a framework is IMO more about what feature set you want. For example, the Zend framework is very popular, but is not as structured as say, CakePHP, which is modelled very tightly on the MVC architecture, which you may love, or hate.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of..._frameworks#PHP

[real_illusions]

Note that not all of those are for PHP

Just seeing if your paying attention :)But yes, i went through a list of server side frameworks rather than just PHP ones.

[skaterdav85]

well I started looking into Zend and CakePHP. Would anyone recommend a particular framework for someone's first time? I read the intro to Zend in Action and it claims Zend is easy to learn, but then again, the author is saying that. I'd also like to use the one that is more widely used for potential jobs

[real_illusions]

I've been trying to get into Codeigniter, seems relatively easy, and has a big community - which is very useful should you get stuck.

[skaterdav85]

i think codeigniter seems like the quickest and easiest for starting to learn a framework. This site has a comparison of Zend and CI, and it says that CI has a BSD-style license whereas Zend has a New BSD license. Anyone know what that means?

[boen_robot]

Unless you're planning on bundling the framework with a project of yours, or alter it, looking at the lincences is pointless.Personally, I like the Zend framework, mostly because it doesn't force you to use all of it. Most frameworks practically force you to use all of the components before you get to the point where there are visible advantages. In particular, many framworks force you to use their MVC managing classes/functions. With the Zend framework, you can keep writing without a framework, but pick up the components for which it seems writing a good equivalent would be a hassle, such as Zend_Mail (assuming you deal with any emails) or Zend_Db (assuming you want to make your app portable across DB systems).

[skaterdav85]

boen robot, how did you learn the Zend framework? Was it your first framework? How long did it take you?

[boen_robot]

There's nothing to learn about the Zend framework, that's just it... the phrase "learning the Zend framework" is just as silly as "learning the array functions". You don't. You just read the manual and use the component accordingly when you need it.And yes. It's my first framework, in that the first one I use extensively. I've tried to teach myself others, and gave up as soon as I realized I need to use them fully.

[skaterdav85]

did you ever try codeigniter? if so, what did you think of it?