stryderjzw wrote:Frameworks or Do-It-Yourself?
Ruby on Rails came out with 1.0 the other day... I'm now taking a look at symfony, a PHP5 framework, as well as Ruby on Rails.
The problem I have with frameworks is that I get this weird, funny sensation inside of me, telling me that I'm not doing the work... which should be good, I guess?

I don't seem to "trust" frameworks that tell u to specifically use some sort of convention...
I would like to hear everyone's thoughts about whether to use a framework or to do it all yourself. Thanks!
Well IMHO...Frameworks are usually a good thing...
Here's the problem with PHP frameworks...
1) Open source projects are often poorly documented...especially when their not-for-profit!!!
2) There are so damn many, how do you pick one single solution...Savant VS Smarty...etc
3) Poor design and bugs...last thing I need is for my software to be faulty only to find out it's some problem with the framework I'm using...
In number three's defence...the good thing about OSS is when a bug is discovered, which is likely quicker than you'll find one...it's usually corrected quickly and made available...
It's easy to update a framework...so long as the API doesn't change or something stupid like that
Now ask yourself this...
If you have such a fear in using a framework - then why are you programming in PHP???
Might as well use assembler...the lines of code to echo a simple hello world program would run you into the double digits...but you'd be sure the code you wrote was strictly yours and yours alone...
Your asking the wrong question my friend...
The question isn't should you use a framework...you should be asking...
here's my problem...heres how I want it solved...can someone suggest a framework for me to use to complete this process quicker and cleaner...
asking for details as to why that framework is best, etc...
Just a note: I do agree that sometimes a DYI approach is best...
For instance I've been working on a CMS application for a while now...and I used a custom template engine derived from bTemplate...basically the same thing but API name change...and minus caching...
I used this approach because I wanted the app to have minimal headaches for install...and least amount of things to go wrong...
Using the KISS principle is likely key to software success in SMB/SME markets...
If is was a much larger project though...I would definetly switch to a smarter framework...likely Smarty...just cuz of the support, docs, etc...not because it's technically the best solution...
Cheers
