-Original Message-
From: Adam Richardson [mailto:simples...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 12:05 AM
To: PHP-General
Subject: [PHP] A general discussion of libraries and frameworks
I see that the ORM thread has generated a broad-ranging discussion. Some
of the posts have discussed the utility of frameworks and/or libraries,
and
because it's Friday, I thought I'd toss out my observations on the subject
and
see what ideas those on the list had regarding the subject.
Libraries and frameworks both offer the general hope that their carefully
crafted and maintained code is better than my one-off stab at the problem
will be within the timeframe I have to complete the project. However, I
tend to make a distinction between frameworks and libraries. Simply,
frameworks control the flow of the application, whereas libraries provide
functionality that fits into your applications flow.
On the homepage, Doctrine says it's a library, and that seems to fit with
the
above distinction given my limited knowledge of the code. JQuery is a
javascript library, and, although Zend is called a framework, I tend to
use it
as a library (SMTP email, etc.) to augment my own code, although it can
certainly be used as a framework. CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, and Code
Igniter
are all frameworks because they control the flow of the app.
Martin Fowler has a nice blog post which speaks more clearly on the
distinction I tend to draw:
http://martinfowler.com/bliki/InversionOfControl.html
As one point of curiosity, I'm wondering when a function or group of
functions is, in your eyes, deemed a library. I tend to use the
pornography
approach to identifying a library (I know it when I see it), but I'm
sure
there's a more formal analysis. For some, maybe it's as simple as The
developer calls this a library. :)
http://martinfowler.com/bliki/InversionOfControl.htmlMoving on, this
distinction between frameworks and libraries helps inform my choice of
tools. If there is a simple task that I'm going to perform and I know
that
many before me have been faced with the same hurdle, I'll look for a
function. However, if there are a set of related tasks I'm going to
perform,
I'll look for a library. If none is suitable/findable/trustable, then
I'll see
what I can muster.
I use frameworks when there is a particular flow I wish to enforce
throughout the application. For instance, my web framework enforces a
general flow during all requests:
Adam,
I find that 'enforce' leads to inflexibility eventually. As for framework,
I'm still looking for a good implementation of the presented concept (MVC,
ORM, etc.). Case in point: MVC. You could just add or do some minor change
in either/all the Model, View, or Controller, having that flexibility to
adapt w/o major base code change is very nice. The problem lies therein of
implementing the abstract concept MVC into concrete, workable (learning,
understanding, maintaining, etc.), reliable, and flexible (modular, 3rd
party add-ins, etc.) code while retaining good performance. IE: Zend
Framework. The code base is somewhat bloated, IMO. But as others have
mentioned, it's still useful due to its modular design as you can choose to
use parts of it within your app and not need to implement the entire
framework. I don't have enough experience with ZF yet to see how
expandability it is in terms of third party add-in/plugin/module. Here's the
list of PHP frameworks [1]. I don't know how current it is. As you can see
from that table, only 2 supports everything that's current under the sun,
including template event driven. Yii isn't very mature from what I've
read so far. PRADO's, although acronym is both catchy and meaningful, code
base is too much ASP.NET like even though it's based on PHP ..
Ironically, both projects are started by the same person.
Regards,
Tommy
[1] http://www.phpframeworks.com/
- Input validation on all incoming Get, Post, or Cookie variables, and
delete any not expected or accounted for.
- Short-circuiting of the request if the client only wants an html
fragment (one dynamic region of the page instead of the whole page, as
is
used to update pages via Ajax.)
- Automatic output escaping, automatically adjusting for context.
Now, I could use libraries to get the same effect, certainly. However, I
prefer that this flow occur on every dynamic page, and a framework allows
me to easily achieve and enforce this flow. Are these the same reasons
some of you use frameworks?
I'm also curious if some of the custom libraries people have built fall
into
the category of framework using the definitions above. C'mon, you can
'fess
up, there aren't that many people listening :)
Last, I want to be clear and say that I'm not saying you should always use
a
framework or library. Especially with frameworks, you have to be
judicious
in your decision, as the same control of flow that can prove so
