Which framework should I learn?

Code Igniter is great, check it out here, http://codeigniter.com
Zend is very powerful too for web applications, http://framework.zend.com/

I would second learning Zend. I'm learning Zend myself and am using this book as a guide: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Web-2-0-Applications-PHP/dp/1590599063

I have also used Symfony and it is quite popular too.

Code Igniter is great, check it out here, http://codeigniter.com

+1 for CI
Simple, loose MVC, fine docs et al

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll probably check out Zend pretty soon, It's a bit confusing to know which files to download tho...

Which php framework should I spend my time learning? Since there are so many, I was wondering which are the more popular frameworks out there?

I'm sort of messing around with frameworks myself. In fact, because of that, it's led me to a whole slew of new things I'd not done before. Firstoff, you should be comfortable with object oriented programming, because frameworks are almost all OOP.

Secondly, I've messed with Zend and Code Igniter so far. If you aren't familiar with a command line or do not have access to one from whatever server you are using - I would stay away from Zend.

I got zend installed and working ok, but it's really, really deep. I googled good frameworks for beginners and Code Igniter kept popping up, so I tried my luck at that. It's far smaller and no command line is needed to use it. It's also far more portable than Zend seems to be.

Both come with pretty decent user manuals so if you've been programming for awhile you shouldn't have a hard time figuring them out.

The last thing I'm gonna say is that I have always used remote shared hosting plans from various hosting companies. While it is possible to get frameworks installed on them, which I have done for both CI and zend - it is also a pain in the @$$.

So, it might be best to start messing around with your own server if you go that route. You have far more control over your framework than on someone else's server. I have XAMPP for windows and on my other machine I run fedora 13 with apache 2.2, php 5.3.3, and mysql 5.

good luck :)

I'm sort of messing around with frameworks myself. In fact, because of that, it's led me to a whole slew of new things I'd not done before. Firstoff, you should be comfortable with object oriented programming, because frameworks are almost all OOP.

Secondly, I've messed with Zend and Code Igniter so far. If you aren't familiar with a command line or do not have access to one from whatever server you are using - I would stay away from Zend.

I got zend installed and working ok, but it's really, really deep. I googled good frameworks for beginners and Code Igniter kept popping up, so I tried my luck at that. It's far smaller and no command line is needed to use it. It's also far more portable than Zend seems to be.

Both come with pretty decent user manuals so if you've been programming for awhile you shouldn't have a hard time figuring them out.

The last thing I'm gonna say is that I have always used remote shared hosting plans from various hosting companies. While it is possible to get frameworks installed on them, which I have done for both CI and zend - it is also a pain in the @$$.

So, it might be best to start messing around with your own server if you go that route. You have far more control over your framework than on someone else's server. I have XAMPP for windows and on my other machine I run fedora 13 with apache 2.2, php 5.3.3, and mysql 5.

good luck :)

Thanks sleign! I'll try out CI first since I don't know anything about working the command line, plus I'm on windows. Hopefully I'll be able to get CI to work much easier.

Thanks again!

I know this has been solved but I see some misconceptions that need to be clarified. I have developed with Zend for the last 2+ years. I develop almost purely on Zend these days and have several relatively large applications running on it.

------

I'm sort of messing around with frameworks myself. In fact, because of that, it's led me to a whole slew of new things I'd not done before. Firstoff, you should be comfortable with object oriented programming, because frameworks are almost all OOP.
Agreed

Secondly, I've messed with Zend and Code Igniter so far. If you aren't familiar with a command line or do not have access to one from whatever server you are using - I would stay away from Zend.
If you're referencing Zend_Tool then you're quite mistaken that you MUST use a command line. I create my code from scratch usually. The structures are well defined and you create everything as you would any other php file.

I got zend installed and working ok, but it's really, really deep. I googled good frameworks for beginners and Code Igniter kept popping up, so I tried my luck at that. It's far smaller and no command line is needed to use it. It's also far more portable than Zend seems to be.
To get either working and configured is a breeze. As for being portable, I fail to see why you came to the conclusion it is not portable. As long as mod_rewrite is enabled, and your files are in the correct locations -OR- you have updated your paths correctly it works right out of the box. There is very little configuring to do to get it running.

Both come with pretty decent user manuals so if you've been programming for awhile you shouldn't have a hard time figuring them out.
Agreed - Documentation on both platforms is good.

The last thing I'm gonna say is that I have always used remote shared hosting plans from various hosting companies. While it is possible to get frameworks installed on them, which I have done for both CI and zend - it is also a pain in the @$$.
Using any framework on a shared hosting platform should be no different then setting up any other php application. Although most frameworks suggest placing the framework code outside of the document root, which you may or may not have access to. That aside is just a path issue and is not ultimately a requirement.

So, it might be best to start messing around with your own server if you go that route. You have far more control over your framework than on someone else's server. I have XAMPP for windows and on my other machine I run fedora 13 with apache 2.2, php 5.3.3, and mysql 5.
A framework is a framework. The only thing that is going to change machine to machine is going to be the php extensions that are loaded and the version of php installed.

good luck :)

-----

Definitely check out Zend. I have never been anything but impressed by its capabilities and flexibility. But use the right tool for the job.

I know this has been solved but I see some misconceptions that need to be clarified. I have developed with Zend for the last 2+ years. I develop almost purely on Zend these days and have several relatively large applications running on it.

------

I'm sort of messing around with frameworks myself. In fact, because of that, it's led me to a whole slew of new things I'd not done before. Firstoff, you should be comfortable with object oriented programming, because frameworks are almost all OOP.
Agreed

Secondly, I've messed with Zend and Code Igniter so far. If you aren't familiar with a command line or do not have access to one from whatever server you are using - I would stay away from Zend.
If you're referencing Zend_Tool then you're quite mistaken that you MUST use a command line. I create my code from scratch usually. The structures are well defined and you create everything as you would any other php file.

I got zend installed and working ok, but it's really, really deep. I googled good frameworks for beginners and Code Igniter kept popping up, so I tried my luck at that. It's far smaller and no command line is needed to use it. It's also far more portable than Zend seems to be.
To get either working and configured is a breeze. As for being portable, I fail to see why you came to the conclusion it is not portable. As long as mod_rewrite is enabled, and your files are in the correct locations -OR- you have updated your paths correctly it works right out of the box. There is very little configuring to do to get it running.

Both come with pretty decent user manuals so if you've been programming for awhile you shouldn't have a hard time figuring them out.
Agreed - Documentation on both platforms is good.

The last thing I'm gonna say is that I have always used remote shared hosting plans from various hosting companies. While it is possible to get frameworks installed on them, which I have done for both CI and zend - it is also a pain in the @$$.
Using any framework on a shared hosting platform should be no different then setting up any other php application. Although most frameworks suggest placing the framework code outside of the document root, which you may or may not have access to. That aside is just a path issue and is not ultimately a requirement.

So, it might be best to start messing around with your own server if you go that route. You have far more control over your framework than on someone else's server. I have XAMPP for windows and on my other machine I run fedora 13 with apache 2.2, php 5.3.3, and mysql 5.
A framework is a framework. The only thing that is going to change machine to machine is going to be the php extensions that are loaded and the version of php installed.

good luck :)

-----

Definitely check out Zend. I have never been anything but impressed by its capabilities and flexibility. But use the right tool for the job.

Thank for the advice, I'll check Zend out as well, hopefully I'll be able to find some decent tutorials out there. thanks again, you've been very helpful.

Hello

Please never use Zoop. Very poor documentation and support. Go for Zend.

Thanks

Definitely check out Zend. I have never been anything but impressed by its capabilities and flexibility.

I have never used Zend so i cannot comment on it. However all MVC frameworks are almost alike except for classes(and hence functionalities), configurations, dependencies and How tight MVC the framework it is. Some are strictly MVC and some, like CI are loosely MVC. By loose MVC it means you can drop Model and yet it works.

I would be happy to hear what Zend and CakePHP features!
So far I have read little of CI vs CPHP

I have been a professional developer since before the web came along. When PHP first hit the scenes, it really was the first complete tool. Everything else, save perhaps the esoteric work of WebObject on NeXT was completely blown away.

But PHP is 10 + years old. Yes there are billions of site written it it. Just as there were billions of lines of COBOL and FORTRAN 20 years ago. Now they are extinct. (Same with ___filli n the blank___ , ___filli n the blank___, ___filli n the blank___, ___filli n the blank___, ___filli n the blank___ and ___filli n the blank___.

If I were going to learn anew technology I would look to the Web 3.0 tools coming out. Wakanda (http://www.wakandasoft.com/) seems like a pipe dream. But the beta of Real Studio (http://www.realsoftware.com/web/) is mind boggling for a new technology. There are a ton of others. These just seem the most promising.

If your programming horizon is long term. I would look at the new stuff.

I have been a professional developer since before the web came along. .....But PHP is 10 + years old. Yes there are billions of site written it it. Just as there were billions of lines of COBOL and FORTRAN 20 years ago. Now they are extinct.

Do you mean because it is 10+ old it is outdated like the two? Professional developer giving such statement? No way :-O

May be We should throw the outdated C++ before PHP since it have been long way 1979. PHP have been around since 1995. C language is supposed then to be in trash cans as it is even older than C++.

No offense intended but your "professional" is questionable due to criteria you set. may be after seeing your posts in this PHP section we can confirm your claims to professionalism. Also I hope the two links (which I didn't visit) are not Marketing links :)

@evstevemd

I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts on a couple of frameworks I've seen on the web. one of the is X-Jax from http://www.xajax-project.org/ and Lithium from http://lithify.me/ I'm trying to learn how I can make a website that utilizes AJAX heavily while still working in a MVC framework (I hope thats possible).

Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions

@evstevemd

I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts on a couple of frameworks I've seen on the web. one of the is X-Jax from http://www.xajax-project.org/ and Lithium from http://lithify.me/ I'm trying to learn how I can make a website that utilizes AJAX heavily while still working in a MVC framework (I hope thats possible).

Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions

I won't suggest you go for ajax-ified framework. I would say Check framework and Ajax library. as for me I will say take Codeigniter and JQuery :)