PHP Frameworks

PHP Frameworks Overview

What are PHP Frameworks?

PHP is a commonly used scripting language that is most popularly used in web development. A PHP framework supports and simplifies the creation and collaborative development of applications in PHP. They support rapid, stable development of applications by providing a basic organized structure, and a tested library of development tools or modules. These automate some of the more routine or straightforward but time-consuming elements of coding. PHP frameworks support rapid application development (RAD) by directly speeding development.

Features of PHP Frameworks

Presently PHP Frameworks provide the following capabilities to developers:

• Open, extensible component architecture

• Library of tools for automation common tasks

• Code generation and scaffolding tools for rapid deployment

• Simple, friendly library interface

• Model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern

• Multiple database access methods

• Support for multiple caching mechanisms

• Translation / localization

• Modular packaging system

• Package dependency management

• Query builder for SQL or NoSQL databases

• Application deployment & maintenance utilities

• Security features (e.g. form tampering prevention, SQL injection prevention, etc.)

• Application error logging, data validation

• User authentication / authorization

• Support for hooks and class extensions

• Supportive communities of co-developers

Pricing Information

The most popular PHP frameworks are free and open source or available under the MIT license. In addition to being free, the most popular frameworks have active development environments. Forums and developers are available for help, and indeed for growing contributions to component libraries. A few PHP frameworks provide advanced libraries and live assistance at cost.