PHP Zend Framework

[micha8l]

Hey,

 

I've been coding in PHP and OOP for a little over two years. I've always created my applications using my own code, and I'm very reluctant even installing some packages from the PEAR repository. But something has come up, a project, a very large project that requires all kinds of APIs: Amazon, Twitter, Facebook etc. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel -- so to speak -- I've decided I'll have to learn a Framework, so I chose Zend.

 

I'm wondering if anyone could give me some inight into working with this Framework: Is it really difficult to develop projects with, I'm just starting to learn now and it does seem very difficult. Do many successful websites use Zend Framework? Just stuff like that.

 

 

Kind Regards

Mike

[ignace]

If you are going to work with multiple API's it might be good to go for a framework that supports most, if not all, of them for consistency.

[shlumph]

It does have quite a bit of a learning curve. But after you have a good handle on forms and their decorators, view helpers, action helpers, zend_auth, and have a good understanding of how to extend off the framework's classes in general, it's a pretty awesome framework to work with.

 

I've built my blog with ZF (probably overkill) and have the source of it on github if you're interested. Looking at other ZF projects on github would also help.

[dgoosens]

It does have quite a bit of a learning curve. But after you have a good handle on forms and their decorators, view helpers, action helpers, zend_auth, and have a good understanding of how to extend off the framework's classes in general, it's a pretty awesome framework to work with.

 

I've built my blog with ZF (probably overkill) and have the source of it on github if you're interested. Looking at other ZF projects on github would also help.

 

I agree...

It takes quite some time and effort to get along with ZF... but once you're in it... you'll want to use it for more or less everything (and why not a blog...)

 

Do buy a good book on it and start exercising !!

[Anti-Moronic]

To clarify the learning curve. I had been learning OOP for a few months at best before I decided to move onto a framework to learn how it should be done. I also chose Zend. I had somebody write up some abstract stuff for me (like models), I then downloaded an application in ZF to analyze while I developed my own application.

 

Within a month I had my first application and it was MUCH easier than starting from scratch. I studied ZF more and tried to get an extensive overview of the basic components. I roled out my second project in no time!

 

This was with NO prior experience with any other framework and only a few months experience using/studying OOP. Personally, I feel it might be because I hadn't had any experience with other frameworks. I had no set way of looking at something. ZF taught me OOP.