In the wide world of web development, developers have taken to using frameworks by force. From back-end to front-end, frameworks have simplified the code we write, giving us time to produce better sites & applications.
To give you a breif example of what a framework is, let’s compare two chunks of code that do the same thing. One line is raw PHP, the other from a framework, CodeIgniter to be precise.
// Raw PHP
$query = $mysqli->query("SELECT * FROM entries LIMIT 0, 10") or die(mysqli_error($mysqli));
// Framework (CodeIgniter)
$query = $this->db->get('entries', 10);Frameworks go far beyond shortcuts though, they lay down the ground-work for the project. Some provide an often easier & better controlled way of building through stable foundations like MVC & URI routing. Other visual frameworks offer simpler syntax or complex animations, smoother animations. In other words, frameworks offer the developer new and simpler way to do things, reducing development time or increasing functionality.
But they often come with constraints too, where different frameworks are better suited to different projects. Different frameworks are avaliable for different languages too. So with that, let’s see some of the best frameworks as well as some that are just appearing the scene.
For PHP, we have CodeIgniter, Fuel PHP, CakePHP and Zend. Ruby has two main frameworks, Ruby on Rials and Sinatra. Python users tend to use Django but also have TurboGears and Zope. ASP.NET users have ASP.NET MVC. Flash has GAIA Framework and Papervision 3D.
If you’ve ever used a framework, what did you use? What impact did it have on your project?
