Are frameworks used for “big” websites?

I’m kind of new to PHP. I can create basic sites with login/registration, etc., but I always struggle to build complex sites with lots of features, because eventually the code becomes messy and I just run into more and more little bugs, and then fixing those produces another, and so on. I realise that that’s partially to do with me simply not writing clean code (I’m working on that!) but I would also probably benefit from using a framework.

But is using ready-made frameworks “unprofessional”? Would a big site such a YouTube or Facebook use a framework like CakePHP or CodeIgniter?

Using a framework is like choosing a library: you get some features for “free”, but you also get the limitations of this code (for example, using a data-access library might prevent you to write a five-way join query).

The problem with choosing a framework is that it is harder to revert your choice once you have started using it. The reason is that frameworks usually have lots of responsibilities, and often use shortcuts (e.g. “convention over configuration”) to make things easier to write. So your code ends up tightly coupled with the framework, and moving to another framework implies a total rewrite.

So it is not unprofessional to use a framework. I heard some good success stories with symfony. But it is an important choice to make. And it should be a well informed decision (you should build a small/medium project with a given framework before considering to use it for a big business).

When projects scale to a certain size, a framework is inevitable. You can explicitly choose a framework, or you can implicitly accrete it. If you do not explicitly choose to design / adopt a framework or architecture, you will still have one, it will just be a very badly designed one, and it will be much harder to add new functionality without introducing bugs (as you have already experienced). If you do not yet have the skill to design your own framework, it is better to choose a well-known framework, as it will save you time in the long run.

Specifically about your examples:

Youtube uses python for its front-end, but it spends most of its time in back-end services. In large sites you typically find this architecture where everything that takes up considerable time is moved out of the front-end servers and into a back-end service layer which can be scaled independently from the front-end. From what I can find they seem to have rolled their own framework. For more info, see http://highscalability.com/youtube-architecture

Facebook uses PHP for its front-end, and they also spend a lot of time dispatching to back-end services. Again their framework is home-grown, but they have even gone so far as to build their own PHP engine and development tools. They’ve open-sourced some of their framework code as well.

Architecture info: http://highscalability.com/blog/category/facebook
Facebook’s PHP engine: http://www.hiphop-php.com/category/blog
Facebook’s development tools: https://www.phacility.com/phabricator
Open-source: https://opensource.facebook.com

There are different kind of Framework:

Data frameworks (ORM) which provide basic functionalities to manage
data : eg. Doctrime2
Kernel frameworks which provide basic functionalities to manage
components : eg. cuteflow
Application frameworks provide user functionalities: eg. eZ Comps

using framework is a big choice, because they solve common problems and help the developer to make more readable and self-documented code, but they require a lot of time and experience to be dominated.

For java developer it’s a little bit different because Oracle defines standard (JSR) and different framework’s producer adapt their framework and it’s (relatively) easy to jump from a frameowrk to another.

In PHP framework is like a diamond … it is forever (+ or -)

It is wise to carefully think about the consequences of choosing a framework will have.

But the most important thing is to understand the business problems before you choose a specific technology to implement the solution to those problems (or requirements).

You should always consider that the business logic code or let’s say the code that will implement the solution to your requirements is your most precious good.

So there are ways to implement the important (business) logic code in a way that is free from framework code and thus free of dependencies other than your programming language.

If you keep that in mind and always separate your business logic you will be able to switch to another framework in case that you encounter limitations at some point. Going this way also comes with other benefits such as better testability, readabilty and maintainability. For instance, if you keep your business logic code free of ORM or Active Record dependencies you will be able to change the components for database communication without affecting your business logic code.

Looking into Clean Architecture or Domain-driven Design can help you achieving this goal.

Note: implementing strict abstractions between business logic and interface concerns of course also adds additional effort and might not make sense for “small” and short-lived projects without complex business logic. But in such cases choosing the wrong framework and not having the mentioned abstractions will not have the same bad implications as for big and long-lived projects with complex business logic.

I don’t think that using a framework is a problem. In fact, it brings a lot of useful features and benefits, such as unit testing, good practices, or stability of your code. Zend and Symphony are good examples of frameworks that enhance your coding abilities.

However, using a framework does not make your code more performant. There are many other factors which need to be considered in order to make your application run fast.

Answering your question: yes, frameworks are used in big websites.

Even if you don’t use a framework you end up with your own anyway.

You’re going to have standards in your company, libraries which you use, conventions. And at some point your own small or big project will basically have its’ own custom framework. (although you probably won’t call it that.)

Filed under: softwareengineering - @ 18:09

Thẻ: frameworks, php

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Are frameworks used for “big” websites?