On 16/08/10 18:49, Laurie Brown wrote:
Install the LAMP stack, install cake PHP (http://cakephp.org/) and Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/) [but only is he's going to use a 'Doze box to develop on. Eclipse is goodness though...]
I looked at CakePHP previously, although didn't take it very far, and have just started looking again.
For all the time I've spent looking at frameworks I'm sad to say I've never really "got it". I understand the basic principles of MVC, but reading any of the framework websites reads more like a marketing speech (to me) than anything I can get my head round. For example, from cakephp.org:
CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP that provides an extensible architecture for developing, maintaining, and deploying applications. Using commonly known design patterns like MVC and ORM within the convention over configuration paradigm, CakePHP reduces development costs and helps developers write less code.
So, what should I use it for??
For example, suppose[1] that I am going to take over an existing static website that belongs to a local charity. I want to reskin it, and move the content into something that I can let other members of the charity work on it. In other words, I want a CMS, but I really do not want Joomla or Wordpress or .... - they have far too much functionality and are far too complicated for my target audience. I'm quite capable of writing my own CMS but I'm lazy - do I go for a framework?
Then, suppose I decide to add a shopping cart to the site. Do I stick with the framework?
I'm inclined towards PHP generally, and already use the Smary template engine so anything that understands that would be good. What is a good framework to get started with?
I think I tend to get scared off when I suddenly find my simple "hello world" test website has a dozen directories and files in each and I don't know what any of them really do.....
[1] This is true: I am about to do this. The existing website is http://www.peterboroughlions.org.uk