15 PHP Frameworks

Stuck on what PHP Framework to use for an upcoming project?

Look no further!

Frameworks are the streamlined flow of PHP codes meshed up and baked for you to just use and implement. PHP frameworks are the result of codes written by many talented developers around the world. In other words, PHP frameworks help to promote rapid application development (RAD), which saves you time, helps build more stable applications, and reduces the amount of repetitive coding for developers.

Top 7 PHP Security Blunders

Brilliant article about PHP Security. Good reading for newbies and pros alike :)

Part 1

Part 2

3 Brilliant PHP Books

These books are just a few of the thousands of books available covering all aspects of PHP.

I believe these 3 are the best of the bunch and cover the essentials.

PHP MySQL Web Development

Beginning PHP MySQL Professional Development

Pro PHP Security

Yo dawg...

I heard yo like driving, so we put a car in yo van, so yo can drive whilst yo drive

Source: http://jalopnik.com/5812119/how-did-this-car-get-inside-of-this-van

PHP Framework Benchmarks

So, when I recently started doing a new project, I asked myself "What PHP Framework should I use?"

I was suggested CodeIgniter - its fast, easy to get to grips with and pretty lightweight file size-wise.

Speed is a big thing for me, and I know Frameworks like Zend are terribly bloated.

I found this nice article that discusses the different Frameworks and benchmarks them. It's pleasing to see that CI comes in second on this list :)

PHP Frameworks Benchmarked

Calculate distance between two points

So whilst working with Google Maps lately, I found this super-useful snippet that calculates the distance between two points, using longitdue and latitude.

Code:

function distance($lat1, $lon1, $lat2, $lon2, $unit) { 
$theta = $lon1 - $lon2;
$dist = sin(deg2rad($lat1)) * sin(deg2rad($lat2)) + cos(deg2rad($lat1)) * cos(deg2rad($lat2)) * cos(deg2rad($theta));
$dist = acos($dist);
$dist = rad2deg($dist);
$miles = $dist * 60 * 1.1515;
$unit = strtoupper($unit);

if ($unit == "K") {
return ($miles * 1.609344);
} else if ($unit == "N") {
return ($miles * 0.8684);
} else {
return $miles;
}
}

Usage:

echo distance(32.9697, -96.80322, 29.46786, -98.53506, "k")." kilometers";

Credit: PHPSnippets.info

Some PHP Best Practices

• 30+ PHP Best Practices for Beginners
• PHP Best Practices

nb - Some tips may be contradictory, so please use these at your own risk :)

Massive List of PHP Articles

Below is a huge list of links to various PHP related articles that should help you out when starting a freelance or personal project.


For Beginners

• 25 Resources to Get You Started with PHP from Scratch
• Beginners PHP Tutorial – Using Cookies
• PHP for Beginners: Simple Login, Logout, and Session Handling
• Tutorial: Writing your first PHP script
• Video Tutorials To Start Learning PHP

Ion_Auth for CodeIgniter

Today I am promoting the awesome third-party library, Ion_Auth, for CI.

It is a fully fledged authorisation library, allowing you to set up secured areas, user groups, profiles, the lot!

I have used it on several projects and it has yet to let me down.

http://codeigniter.com/wiki/Ion_Auth_-_Lightweight_Auth_System/

Adventure Game Update

I haven't had chance to work much more on my PHP Adventure Game as of late, however I will be free to start afresh on this project soon.

Due to my new found love for CodeIgniter, I will be rebuilding the game using this framework. Hopefully I can get to the same point I was at before, much quicker and the whole project itself will be neater and more robust :)

CodeIgniter

So I have been using CodeIgniter (CI) for the past 7 months and I am more then impressed!

Very well maintained Framework, with lots of available additional libraries and modifications by fellow CI Community peeps.

I am currently finishing a project using CI v1, however v2 has been released and is a bit tighter.

Stay tuned for more insights :)