Question

I have created several php projects from scratch before, but I realize that it now becomes totally impossible to maiintain all of them as they are all written differently. Especially when they are written several months ago.

I need to create new php projects regularly so would using Frameworks help me with the problem ? IS this a valid reason for using php framework like CodeIgniter ?

Answer 1

Frameworks have at least two important advantages :

• They provide you with a lot of existing code and functionnalities
  • And if you use a well-known Framework, this code will probably be well-tested, and of good quality
  • And you’ll probably have less code to write, which means :
    • Less risks of introducing bugs
    • More time to write code that really matters — i.e. code that’s answering your real needs
• And, which is probably the most important part for you : they provide you with a structure, and an application-architecture (or, at least, a squeletton)
  • which means your applications will have more chances of being developped the same way, following the same structure — which will help greatly when it comes to maintenance
  • Modern Frameworks follow the MVC architecture, which is a step in a good direction too, for that
  • Also : if you are using a well-known Framework, there are chances that new employees arriving in your company will already know it ; which means it’ll be easier for them to work on your projects.

After, there is the question of “which Framework should I use”… There is no “true” answer ; the only advice I can give you is to use one of those that are used a lot — like Symfony, Zend Framework, CodeIgniter, …