Frameworks vs DIY

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stryderjzw
Forum Newbie
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 5:45 pm

Frameworks vs DIY

Post by stryderjzw »

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!
alex.barylski
DevNet Evangelist
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Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:00 pm
Location: Winnipeg

Re: Frameworks vs DIY

Post by alex.barylski »

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 :)
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