PHP Frameworks Review - Mar 19 2015
- 1. PHP Frameworks March 19, 2015
- 2. Why use a framework? • Common features of web apps are created by the framework so you don’t have to code them yourself • Provides predictable locations for the code you write (models are in, duh, the /models directory) • Enforcing standards • Allegedly “faster” and “better” • Your boss or client tells you to • All the other code at work is written with it • You enjoy it
- 3. YOU ENJOY IT!!! • Unless you need to follow a coding standard that determines your framework selection (ie, “We’re a Yii shop, by golly!”), personal preference should be your primary selection criteria • You will code “better” and “faster” if you use tools that you like • Your code will be “better” and “faster” if you use tools that you like
- 4. That’s why we solicited help from people with experience using particular frameworks for today’s talk. Nothing you read on the internet will help you understand what it’s like to develop with a given framework as well as hearing about it first-hand.
- 5. So. Many. Choices. • There are, no kidding, dozens of PHP frameworks. • They all make similar claims: • “fast”, “easy”, “secure”, “robust”, “use only those features you need”, “small footprint”, “great documentation”, “vibrant user community” • The one important claim seems to be “modern”, but I couldn’t find a good definition of that • Requires PHP 5.3+? • Templates? • ActiveRecord
- 6. In my googling, these claims stood out: • Laravel is sexy • Phalcon is fast • Zend is slow • There are lots of webpages that list the top X popular PHP frameworks, but few contain more detail than you can get from the framework homepage (I hate you, Buzzfeed. You ruined the internet.) • Notable exception: http://www.sitepoint.com/best-php- frameworks-2014/ • Forums seem to be the most prolific source of personal opinions about frameworks…imagine that.
- 7. The 8 PHP Frameworks You Have To Learn RIGHT NOW • Laravel • Yii • Symfony • Silex • CakePHP • CodeIgniter • Phalcon • Zend
- 9. • http://laravel.com/ • Combines the best tools and philosophies from various projects, to make development faster, funner, and eleganter. • Symfony packages deep under the hood, where you will likely never see them. • Eloquent ORM for a very Ruby on Rails-ish data abstraction experience. • Artisan CLI, notably: access to models. C&P commands into your tests & voilà! • Database migrations (with improved rollbacks in Laravel 5) • Composer dependency manager. Don't like Eloquent? Plug in your own ORM! • You can override or replace almost any component! • Homestead (pre-fab Vagrant VM) and Forge (Heroku-style hosting) = RAPID. • LaraCon 2015 will be held in exotic Louisville, KY on Aug. 11–12! Laravel
- 14. CakePHP • http://cakephp.org/ • 2 out of 2 PHP user group organizers think the website is just darling • Inspired by Ruby on Rails and will feel very familiar to RoR developers • Was the first MVC framework for PHP • V3 is a significant overhaul, making CakePHP more “modern” • Has been criticized for poor documentation and lack of help for newbies, but that seems to be changing (as evidenced by its super-friendly website design)
- 16. CodeIgniter • http://www.codeigniter.com/ • Was a top contender in the past • First a licensing model change and then an ownership change may have destabilized the product in the collective mind
- 18. Phalcon • Unique among platforms in that it is a C extension. You need to compile it into PHP (or download a suitably compiled binary, which makes things complicated on Windows) • Wicked fast, since the framework components are inside the PHP executable • Excellent choice for high-volume applications that will benefit from its speed • Poor choice for hosted environments where you don’t control the version of PHP or you share resources with other tenants
- 19. Zend (Anyone?)
- 20. Zend • http://framework.zend.com/ • Began life as part of the PHP language, was created by core contributors to the PHP language • Well-established user base (perhaps skewed to enterprise level development) • Thriving community, excellent documentation, active development (v3 is in the pipeline) • Historically, has been criticized for having a steep learning curve • Corporate backing - Zend is maintained by the Zend company, which provides PHP application development products and services (and therefore may be a good choice if you plan to use those products and services)
- 21. Summary • Not all PHP frameworks are created equal, but they share many common features • So, your choice might have little to do with overall feature set and lots to do with one particular thing a framework does well or a community characteristic, like an IRC channel for instant help • Distribution license of the framework may matter for your applications (MIT, BSD, etc)