ciptard / faster Goto Github PK

Please note -- a new Faster 2.0 is in beta and will soon arrive on Github just as soon as I can find the
time. This new version fixes some inconsistencies in the cookie API, adds plugin and theme support, 
reworks the config file system slightly into a better permissions folder strategy, and then adds a new
extra.php file so that one can extend the framework without having to edit the index.php file.

It is available here: http://voloreport.com/faster-2-0-beta-has-arrived

Faster - A Minimal PHP MVC Framework
Copyright (c) 2011, Volo, LLC (http://volosites.com/) - Mike McKee
All rights reserved. BSD License.
Version 1.0370

Why consider Faster, another minimalist PHP MVC framework? For these reasons:

* It is faster. It will take you less time to learn it, less time to install it, less time to code
  with it, and less time to move a project from one server to another. Plus, it does a fine job of
  reducing spaghetti code. For this reason, we hope that far less people shy away from an MVC
  framework and try to learn one and use it. We also think it's a great framework with which to 
  teach PHP in college.

* There is far less likelihood when the framework is upgraded that it will have an impact on your
  projects. We're only providing the M, the V, and the C, and a way to easily connect to a database.
  That's about it.
    
* What if you could combine a framework system folder, bootstrap, and front controller into one file
  and then slim it down to the barest minimums but yet make it still fairly functional? We did just
  that. The index.php is the framework, bootstrap, and front controller rolled into one. There's a
  simple beauty in that.
  
* We think minimalist PHP MVC frameworks are great because they lessen the learning curve for people
  joining your team, the PHP library is fairly vast already, PDO is easier to manage in my opinion 
  than an ORM, and it lets you use best-of-breed components from the web to complete your project.
  We think do-all PHP MVC frameworks are overblown, increase learning curves, keep people in 
  forums fighting with the framework, and keep people from seeking out and using best-of-breed
  solutions to problems because they want to stick to what's in the framework.
  
* We think it removes the notion, "My project is too small to require an MVC framework." We made
  Faster so lightweight that even the smallest project can justify it.
  
* What if you didn't have to edit the .htaccess for the RewriteBase, or any other file for that
  matter, in order to make the project work on a different server? In Faster, you don't have to do
  anything except copy it to the other server. The $this->config->base() and $this->config->
  baseurl() automatically are identified.

* It has a unique URL routing system that is easy to understand, and once you grasp it, you'll 
  wonder why this kind of routing system wasn't available previously. Plus, unlike Kohana's default
  routing system, you can get away with dashes in the URL for the controller (we call it a "group")
  and action parts of the URL instead of being forced to have to use underscores. Plus, in Faster,
  we made it such that you can do virtually anything you want in a URL without having to hop in a
  framework forum to learn how to edit the route scripts. Faster doesn't have a route script -- it
  has a clever technique.
  
* It tacks on the framework to the $this object, which we think is kind of neat. This is available
  in the controllers and models. In the views, in order to reduce the likelihood of business logic
  in the view files, the $this object is limited to the Faster_Core class and the variables that 
  were passed to it from the controller.
  
* Ever get stuck in a tabbed text editor, working between controller, model, and view, and the files
  are named the same? We thought that was pretty frustrating. So, this is why our controller and
  view files all start with a prefix of either "c" or "v". We think this helps you work faster in a
  text editor.

* It doesn't really need a forum to interact with in order to understand it. The framework is so 
  small, and the docs are great.
  
* This sort of MVC framework is also great for those building "sitescripts" (such as hot-or-not, FML,
  etc. scripts). This is because it provides an easy way for clients to retheme those scripts, 
  removes spaghetti code, and doesn't litter a directory full of confusing folders and files, or
  include parts of an MVC framework that might not even be used.