Benefits of creating a custom mvc framework

Question

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 customise/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?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.