php frameworks

Hello,

which php framework is the best? or better do I need to use a framework for all my (new) projects?

found this list with pop. framewroks (incl. main features)
http://www.phpit.net/article/ten-different-php-frameworks/

I have never used a framework, so I guess I am not the right person to reply to this.

But I guess if I would, I would go with the big players (eg. Zend)

Thats funny, I never used one too :D, but If you read the good points of each frameworkk it looks like some very usefull...

the zend framework is one of the latest projects and is in an early development stadium (I read this somewhere). The other ones ar much more mature then the FW from zend.

offtopic: Nick, one more and there are 500 members at webdigity!

Anyway the only thing I know, and I will strongly advice you is DO NOT use the caching of any open project (eg. eAccelerator) because they have bugs that lead to server crashes (like the downtimes we had in the past)

Of course the zend caching system is working fine, but the rest propably need some work to be stable.


Time for spamming is close :)

Is this caching the main purpose of using a frame work?

I thought it's like big libraries with tools and functions to build large applications...

Yeah the main (and in most cases the only) purpose is for the libraries.

The caching is something that most frameworks have bundled.

BTW you can try PEAR which may not be the best framework at this moment, but the fact that is open source and supported by the php community sais a lot.....

... aaehh..
Of course I know PEAR, thought this is called a library. So what is this name framework? some geek term?
lol

A framework is a fourth generation tool.

That means that it is like a language builded inside of another language, in a way that extends it.

In simple words, a framework is a collection of libraries. But there are also some basic libraries who are used by the whole framework, they are not just classes or functions that can be used without the framework.

I guess it worths to work with a framework in big projects, as there are allways many things that you can use, but as for me, I prefer custom apps that create less overhead. I know that this cost in time, but it has better results.

Think of big sites like digg and google how many more servers would they need if they were using all those tools....

OK,  I understand, it's like that people prevent a new "wheel" ;)

I like custom applications too, only if a third party class is really good in his function and is wel programmed I will use them...

but PEAR doesn't have his own language, it's actually more a distribution system...

All frameworks are distributions, I said language because they have a lot more things that the language itself