Why Frameworks Suck
Why Frameworks Suck | devdev2040
Here’s an interesting blog entry which I picked up off John Herren’s 360 Blast.
It is a bit of a rant, but offers good defense of the humble library vs. the Enterprise frameworks.
I’m a library guy, I like a big set of tools available to call upon at need, I like to have a favorite hammer and a favorite saw and know the tricks for making them both fit on my belt without running into my legs when I am working on something. Framework people like the 5-in-1 lathe-press-drill-saw-grinder and figuring out the tricks to fit the piece of wood they are working on into the machine. When you have a framework everything will be lathe-press-drill-saw-grinded into submission, and you better read the manual otherwise the machine won’t even turn on.
…
Frameworks suck because they are an avatar of enterprise, frameworks suck because they take away your freedom, frameworks suck because they build walls between coders, frameworks suck because they make you fit your project to the toolset rather than the toolset to the project, and frameworks suck because they take the fun out of programming, long live the library.
And Long Live PEAR!
July 21st, 2005 at 12:09 am
This is lame.
Log4j is a framework… you’re not gonna tell me this piece of software sucks.
But if, I’d like to hear your arguments
July 21st, 2005 at 10:52 am
http://pear.php.net/ says in the first line:
“PEAR is a framework and distribution system for reusable PHP components.”
Hmm … have you noticed the word “framework” ?
July 21st, 2005 at 3:35 pm
puRe, nobody really knows why the word Framework is in there… some people believe it refers to the “Framework” that has been set up to support PEAR developers to distribute their packages.
I don’t think you would find anyone who thinks that PEAR packages themselves create a framework.
July 21st, 2005 at 7:54 pm
I think everybody should try to understand the clear difference between a library and framework.
A Framework is exactly as its called, it provides the facilities to build solution AROUND IT (forgive the shouting, but that point must be stressed).
A set of libraries on the other hand, is a collection of common code (classes or functions) which can be used to tackle different problems without the boundaries of a framework.
In simpler terms - with a Framework. you must build arounts its own confines, with libraries you build around your own.
Both have their uses, I can understand Aarons frustrations with them, many are to restrictive and try be the end-all solutions, this bulks them out and at the end of the day makes them extremely impractical.
But, on the other hand, frameworks help enforce standards to ensure everybody is working to the same level / standards - which is incredibly important, especially if you want to produce high standard and maintainable code.
July 21st, 2005 at 8:13 pm
Kelvin, I totally agree with you… I personally have nothing against frameworks. I have seen them work pretty well in the java world and think that a standard PHP framework would be a VERY good thing.
One thing that I have said again and again, is that PHP people expect that everything works EXACTLY how they like it a bit too much. I have seen self-important programmers push aside other people’s tools just to build something that “they like” which is far inferior to all the other tools available.
I’m currently playing with PRADO for a pretty big future project, will be posting here as to how that works out.
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November 30th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Frameworks, I would say - is not for me. I have been coding over 11 years and I have gave codeigniter and cakephp a good shot - about 1 weeks worth - night and day. I would never trust them with a huge webapp or a site that will expect a lot of traffic. There are way too many files included before you can even get a hello world printed to the screen. Too much nonsense behind the scenes that you carny over from one page request the next… IMHO - If someone was to ask what a framework is I would compare it to microsoft front page. frameworks are wysiwyg applications. They do make your life easier for simple projects I must admit though.
Frameworks do try to implement some nice standards but it will not keep people from writing spaghetti code (a bad programmer can screw anything up). You will never get a high-level custom application out of a framework.
If a novice needed a simple site and would never program as a profession - I would recommend learning it. It is easier to learn how a framework operates that learning php itself, plus you can do some really cool tricks with it and web 2.0 features as well.
I hope this helps out someone who is researching frameworks and trying to figure out what all the hype is about. I would recommend to check out some of the libs & helpers in there… some are worth adding to your collection.
Ohh yeah for clarity - Pear is nothing like cakephp, codeigniter, zendframework, symphony, etc. It is more like CPAN for perl. you just grab what you need and use it when you need it without being stuck in a box.