Topic: To use a framework or not to use a framework...

[DWilliams]

I'm really hung up here. I watched some videos about CodeIgniter, and it seems nice and I can definitely see the advantages but it's also such a drastic change from what I'm used to.

I'm not a PHP guru or anything but I do well enough. I have tons of scripts and several applications written in PHP for my job, plus a zillion half-finished personal projects. Would it be worth the effort for me to take the time to learn the ins and outs of a framework and start using it? Is there anything "wrong" with doing everything the "old fashioned" way?

[sKunKbad]

I was asking the same questions when I started in with Kohana. I couldn't really see the benefit of MVC, I had already been using my own "framework". I decided to use Kohana for a project, just to test it out. For me, the best thing was that it really cleaned up my code, and helped organize all of the parts of code, so that it was so much easier to see what was going on when I came back to the code after a week or two.

I eventually switched to CodeIgniter because, at least at the time, it had way better documentation and the community forum was active with people that actually wanted to help. I think if you start using CodeIgniter, you will look back at this thread in 6 months, and wonder how you ever coded without it. It makes a huge improvement in your daily coding life.

[DWilliams]

I can definitely see that being true. Like you said I have my own "framework" type stuff where I use the same techniques and patterns in almost all my projects to streamline things. I guess I'm re-inventing the wheel, except my wheel is kinda lopsided and doesn't roll as well.

What makes me the most apprehensive is that I already have so many projects, including an ever growing piece of software at work, already written using my current methods. I don't know if it's worth it to stop, learn a framework, and convert some of my bigger stuff over to the framework.

[petroz]

I highly recommend learning a framework.. I like you wrote a fair handfull of php/mysql applications by hand. I was interested in getting things done faster as there seems to be less and less time everyday!

I like you started with a few codeigniter tut's and found em to be great, but just got stuck on crud for a while, but that was only a short while... After fiddling around for a few days I found myself coding however I fealt like in CI, I didnt have to use their libraries and helpers at all... But nearly everytime I went to write a function to do something I always looked a the user guide and found their solutions much easier to implement...

CI will allow to code comfortably without having to relearn everything, but it also will give you plenty to work with.

I highly recommend giving it a serious shot for a week or so.

Thanks,
Peter

[RIRedinPA]

Hey DW...same boat as you, I've worked in PHP for years without a framework, doing mostly internal sites for searching archives of ads, photos, articles (I'm in publishing)...but am looking into the MVC/Framework way of doing things...its a bit frustrating as I don't think I am typing any significantly less code and I have to learn the frameworks "language" sort to speak so I can do stuff...I've looked at Zend, Cake and CI, I'll probably stick with CI because 1. the set up was easiest, 2. it doesn't care if you're using a DB or not, 3. it let's you ignore the model part of the MVC equation if you so choose

[Anti-Moronic]

"2. it doesn't care if you're using a DB or not, 3. it let's you ignore the model part of the MVC equation if you so choose"

Zend Framework also satisfies those.

I am in a similar boat to both of you as well. First I coded in prcedural php, then moved onto OOP and created my own 'framework' and now I'm moving onto an enterprise framework. Namely, Zend Framework.

It's a steep learning curve but I can already see the benefits of it.

[John_S]

Hey there!


I was asking myself the same question quite some time ago and I found for my self that the answer is yes. Even if in the beginning it might appear frustrating and complicated, once you've learned a framework, your coding will become faster and your code will be easier to read and more structured. However, once you decided to switch to a framework, I strongly suggest you to check out several frameworks at once, and not stopping on the most popular one. Because some popular frameworks might appear interesting, but when you learn out about them, they might appear limited.


Another idea might be coding your own framework, using MVC pattern and inspiring you from already existent frameworks. It not only allows you to better understand common used patterns but also create a framework that suits your needs.


Some frameworks that would suggest for a beginner:
CodeIgniter, Kohana (version 2.x.x, rather than version 3.x because HMVC pattern used in 3.x might be a bit too complicated to understand in the beginning), Cake and Fuse.


Hope it helps!
John_S