Benefits of creating a custom mvc framework

Would creating a custom php mvc framework from scratch be completely pointless for a small digital agency?

I have heard recently from a friend that His colleges are infact spending time on such a project within their agency. Their argument against using another such as cake or zend being that they come with so many unused features and therefore lots of unnecessary code.

I would have thought that such an endevour is completely pointless and indeed a waste of time and money. Surely it would make more sense to pick a framework that matches your needs as close as possible and then cu开发者_运维知识库stomise/extend it. On such frameworks as zend the code is surely going to be of a much better/tested level than that of 1 or 2 programmers could create in a few months.

It just doesn't make sense to me - can anyone pursuade me otherwise?

Using your own framework has one big advantage over other solutions. It means you have total i mean TOTAL! controll over it. No matter what happens to other frameworks, because one day you have open source software and another day it could be abbandoned or stopped project. And your framework will still be developed. Even if it means you will need to constantly add some features to it, with time it will pay off. Besides, PHP is like one huge framework after all, and it's evolving. Writing your own framework will keep you up to date with this technology :) Of course keeping with other frameworks or CMSes is also good idea, because maybe your clients will want to use them, and you can also learn from them and move some solutions to your software :D

No, I think you will find most here would agree with you - I certainly feel it is a complete waste of time. Especially given that they are a small agency, their limited resources could be better spent elsewhere.

Since they are concerned about a bloated framework, I suggest that instead they investigate using a lightweight PHP framework such as CodeIgniter and Kohana.

I see it pointless. But it's a curse of PHP programmers who tend to invent wheel again and again. I know what I'm talking about. I tried it too.

The best approach seems to be to learn a framework and if it doesn't suit you ask friends who knows other frameworks to learn how is the particular problem solved in other frameworks and if none of them seems good then MAYBE it's time to start work on a new framework.

The point with lots of unused code is not completely valid. Zend contains classes that can be stripped off as far as I know.

EDIT: Performance of PHP can be enhanced via eAccelerator for example. I find it easier than building a brand new framework.

MVC FW is less than 5% of average project code base, so I strongly recommend building MVC for every project and adapt it to the project specifications. If someone has enough knowledge about MVC pattern and some experience in using and building MVC frameworks, it can be built in some days.

General arguments are speed and performance given by the custom FW.

Sometimes when people are afraid of changes and learning new things, they come up with all kinds of silly reasons why somethings is bad and should not be used.

I once worked in company that was determined to write their own web framework instead of using Django. One of the developers that was working on "admin" part of framework said i wanted him to lose his job cos Django has auto generated admin.

Unless is it very specific framework and you have very good reasons and enough fundings for project it is never a good idea to reinvent the wheel specially if you can't make it the same or better quality then what is already out there.

It depends on what kind of projects they do, and what are their needs. Never forget that in software, the 'best' always depends on what you are doing. There is no 'one golden solution' for everything. This includes mvcs.

There are various reasons to code your own mvc :

• You can tailor it to your exact specific needs
• You can keep it closed source, reducing exposure, increasing security due to obscurity
• You can continue developing it, and then release it to the world when it is mature and fulfills a major purpose - a lot of current mvcs came to being in that way anyway.
• You can continue developing it, keep it closed source code, and build massive SaaS services and applications on it, to which you will retain full rights. Can be done with apache license too though.
• You can fulfill a purpose that is not fulfilled by any other mvc. Despite every mvc has its zealots who believe that they have the one and all solution, every mvc has its downsides. And believing that 'everything that can be done, has been done' because there are 15-20 mvcs out, is as stupid as saying 'all that can be discovered has been discovered'. And there were people saying the latter at the start of 20th century.

Not to mention that with an external mvc you are using, you are obliged to that mvc's project team for many things. They may already have or may introduce things that you dont like, or even hamper your specific applications.

Not to mention they may just get abandoned. Can happen to the biggest. Codeigniter was all the rage. What happened ? Ellis is dumping it basically. Development slowed down to a halt. Probably soon totally halting. Being open sourced does not guarantee a project either - there have been many open source projects which went similar ways.

What's going to happen to people who had coded major applications with Codeigniter ? Are they going to undertake the security of the Codeigniter installations they have themselves ? Therefore de facto becoming maintainers of their own mvc ? Or are they going to hire external parties to maintain the mvc for them ?

Not a good future investment.

My preference for coding my own mvc is mainly to have a mvc that fits my own style of coding. My criteria for a mvc :

• Fast development
• Fast modification
• Low maintenance
• Speed
• Security
• Extreme simplicity
• Reliability in regard to future development

I have coded a major mvc for myself before. and i am still successfully running it on one of my hobby websites which handles ~600,000-1,200,000 unique visitors per month. At a given moment, 250+ visitors (google analytics - it doesnt include any bots) can be present on the site, hammering page after page. And it does not even blink. I like that. Despite it has various shortcomings that i dont like, it works spectacularly.

In the current mvc im doing, im using the lessons i learned from the previous one, as they apply to my specific purposes.

Not to mention it is a great way to hone and develop new skills.

But one thing is a must: plan it very well, and keep building on it, changing and improving it.

For any framework

Pros

• get exact functionality you want
• control over small details important to your project
• familiarity with code

Cons

• everything that breaks you must fix yourself
• don't get to learn from the mistakes of the past
• won't get as many bugs noticed due to smaller audience

Personally I recommend exploring existing frameworks before even considering writing your own. Just remember that it's okay if you don't understand it all in a day!

It's a waste of time. Unless they are building a site with the traffic of Facebook, the performance hits they will get using something like Yii vs. their own should matter very little

It's not necessarily a waste of time but I agree with you, I tried it myself too. I've been using Zend, Code Igniter and Fuel depending on what project that I'm working on.

The consequence that I had in creating my own framework is the deadline. If you're working on a project with a very tight deadline then creating your own framework would be a bad idea.