Matthew sums it up well, but I've got a few suggestions: 1) If you're going to ask it on our list, the you'll have to ask the same question on Cake's list to correct for bias. ;)
2) Better yet, take a look at our respective documentation online, run a search on google and technorati, then form your conclusions based upon your unique needs and values. I don't think you'll find any lack of material on why you might choose one over the other, finding out why you might *not* choose one is likely to require a little more digging. O, and don't forget to compile your findings and post them somewhere to help the next guy with the same question. :) ,Wil > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Weier O'Phinney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:17 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [fw-general] CakePHP vs. ZendFramework > > -- José de Menezes Soares Neto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote > (on Thursday, 21 February 2008, 05:33 PM -0200): > > Why use ZendFramework and not CakePHP? > > Why would you start a flame war on a ZF list? ;-) > > I recently answered this, however inaccurately, with the following: > > CakePHP and Zend Framework compete in the same arena. Some > differentiating factors of Zend Framework include: > > * Use-at-will architecture. You *can* use the MVC of ZF, but you > don't > have to. In fact, if you want to, you can utilize ZF *within* your > CakePHP application (and several people have blogged on how they do > exactly this). CakePHP is a full-stack framework by design, and you > cannot do similarly with its components. > > * CakePHP uses convention over configuration; it is opinionated > software. As a result, it is a poor mesh for integrating with > existing applications, as it asserts its conventions even as far as > such areas as database schemas (I've heard anecdotes of people > needing to alter existing database schemas in order for them to > work > with Cake, instead of being able to configure Cake to work with > their existing schema). Zend Framework is highly configurable, and > is designed to adapt to your needs and existing infrastructure. > > * CakePHP was originally written for PHP4 and still supports PHP4. As > a result, it does not take advantage of many features of PHP 5, > including much of the power of PHP 5's object model. > > That said, you can get up and running with CakePHP very quickly. Their > CLI tooling, plus the opinionated conventions, mean that when > developing > a green field application, you can get started very, very quickly. The > Zend_Build/Zend_Console stuff we're working on currently will help > close > this gap (in a configurable way), but this is definitely one place > where > they have an advantage. > > What it really comes down to, though, are what tools suit your needs? > This is subjective criteria, and will be influenced by what legacy > applications or data sources you may need to interface with, what > systems and PHP version requirements you have, etc. Only *you* can > truly > evaluate which framework best suits you. > > -- > Matthew Weier O'Phinney > PHP Developer | [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Zend - The PHP Company | http://www.zend.com/
