01.09.10
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12:04:2008
Kohana a Different PHP Framework!
Kohana is PHP framework that is unlike any other framework that I have come across php, flex, flash or otherwise. Originally a CodeIgnitor fork it has found its own feet dropping most of its CI roots in the process and going strictly php 5 a big CI difference.
Kohana is a PHP 5 FRAMEWORK that uses the MODEL VIEW CONTROLLER architectural pattern. It aims to beSECURE, LIGHTWEIGHT, and EASY to use.
What I Like:
The framework is very well written, lightweight, appears secure and very easy to extend see the kohanaphp.com for a full list of the features. Personally I like the flexibility to develop and the ease of which you can extend the applications by integrating external scripts and modules into the your application.
The Strange:
I have been using Kohana for some time now and I will have to admit that I do like it which might come as a suprise when you read what I have outlined below.
I am not sure if it should be called a Framework according to Wikipedia definition,
“Wikipedia: The designers of software frameworks aim to facilitate software development by allowing designers and programmers to spend more time on meeting software requirements rather than dealing with the more standard low-level details of providing a working system.”
Kohna’s core philosophy of “A DEVELOPER FRAMEWORK” misses the whole concept of “facilitate software development” and too often useful pieces of code are ripped out because they are considered bloat of too rudimentary to be include in the framework, here is a recent example (see lead developer response post 3)!
Secondly Kohana has gone over more core and api changes than the number of years it has been in development, which does not make it very usable in long terms situations or stable, I simply cannot see anyone recommending it to a client as the best choice.
The documentation sucks it is wiki base and depends on the community to keep it updated, so this may not be a fault of the developers, what is however is a philosophy that it was created for developers so documentation may not always be the focus and community which is key in the success of “community driven projects” is just not there especially when new users may not feel very welcomed by the “Benevolent Leader” rantings and insults!
Most of its problems though stem from a lack of balanced leadership, and a developer driven mission.
The conclusion.
The Framework is very IMATURE but for reasons which I constantly question I have made this my framework of choice I really like its flexibility and its unapprent simplicty, I would recommend that you learn PHP fundamentals before venturing anywhere near this framework or you welcome could be very unpleasant, but you wont regret it!
I am attempting to move a rather large (by PHP standards) application off of CodeIgniter and on to Kohana V3. I have found that Kohana is extreamly extendable and removes a lot of the limitations of CI. That being said, it is definately a moving target (especially since V3 has not been released) but I home to get on a version that works for me and stay there, only fixing as necessary.
I am really glad that you are moving from codeigniter, and kohana has excellent code, the problem is that the core is always changing and for this reason it is very unstable.. among other things I no longer use it I am currently playing with zend and doophp (http://www.doophp.com) I quite like doo actually… and it is a lot simpler that Kohana, also has a very nice rest api built in, give it a run, oh the application generation seems a bit buggy…. and it is faster than kohana no it really is!!!