Advantages and Disadvantages of the Zend PHP Framework

Programmers have a variety of frameworks and libraries at their disposal, to develop projects. Of all the projects in the market, Zend is one of the most commonly used framework, and various medium to big corporations have trusted it to build their websites and robots applications. 

The framework has a lot of professional PHP packages and incorporates object-oriented coding. In this article you will read why Zend is a good choice for your project needs.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the Zend framework:

Advantages

  1. Customisation makes flexibility easy

Developers love flexible frameworks because they can create web applications utilising the various features and options. The more flexible, the more the developers love it because they can tailor the website however they want and use all the customising tools. Developers can also integrate third-party libraries and templates, customise the components and configure them according to requirement. 

  1.  Perfect for Big Data Applications

Zend is a great choice for building enterprise level large scale web applications. It possesses qualities like reusability and inheritance, and handles a vast database (since it is a server side scripting language). Easy to build optimally performing complex web applications, thanks to the great MVC platform and the versatile component-driven features. 

  1. HTML5 Compliant

Zend comes with HTML5 form features, making it easy for you to create a front-end in HTML5. The framework supports  input data types like url, email, phone number, date pickers, search etc.  Zend also takes care of client-side field validation too. 

  1. The benefits of object orientation

Developers enjoy the multiple benefits of Object-Oriented programming like

  • Modularity enforced through encapsulation 
  • Reusability of code through inheritance
  • Flexibility through polymorphism 
  1. Data Abstraction

Being a fully object oriented framework, the Zend framework follows inheritance and reusability concepts of OOP aiding in a well-organised and personalised web development. 

  1. Large community support

There are thousands of certified developers and they share their knowledge in the field, and help other developers with any type of issue they face. Since Zend is an old framework, there is a huge pool of experienced developers too. 

  1. Very fast and efficient

The Zend framework makes web development easy, and can complete tasks quickly and efficiently. 

  1. Making it easy to focus on just what you want, and nothing else

The ZF doesn’t come as a whole unit that doesn’t budge at all. It is decoupled, meaning the components come as an individual library , so the developers need to load only the required components. 

  1. Technology-related risks are no longer there

The Zend components have all gone through intensive testing to ensure all parameters are met.The PHP Unit is set as the measuring standard. All the components of Zend has a code coverage of at least 80%. 

  1. Freedom of integration

It is possible to integrate Zend with various libraries and third party tools in a powerful manner. 

  1. Loaded with tutorials

Zend makes it easy for new developers to join the game by coming up with basic demos and tutorials to help them with the basics. 

  1. Follows the best practices in the industry

Quality control of code is one of the biggest advantages of Zend. It uses object-oriented design patterns. The components can be extended easily. And with PHPUnit as the measuring standard, Zend components allow for intense testing of all parameters. There is code coverage of about 80% on all the components. 

  1. Developers like its multi-functional feature

There are different Zend features that developers love. For example, if you are trying to read RSS feed, you can use zend_feed. You can use Zend-Acl to manage resources and Zend-auth to authenticate a user.

14. Support of database and MVC components

The framework offers support for many of the prevalent databases like Oracle, MySQL, DB2 and IBM DB2. Zend supports the MVC (Model-View-Controller) process, and its a great advantage to its capability to separate user presentation from data logic and application layer. Zend makes it possible to have a seamless development process because of this. 

Disadvantages

Despite its numerous advantages, the Zend framework does have its cons. Let’s check them out:

  1. No custom coding

Zend allows for customisation, but there is no custom coding in Zend. The framework has a lot of components, but they are all suitable for different purposes. But developers can customise the components according to requirement. ZF is also known as the glue framework, referring to the decoupled nature of ZF, and its capability to be ‘glued’ to the existing application. 

  1. Steep learning curve

Zend is a very old framework with a huge developer community, and is loaded with tutorials and documentation. The framework is vast and complex, and possesses a large volume of libraries, classes, components within its core. And the developers should be clear with the Object-Oriented core concept, quite unlike WordPress or Jhoomla. 

  1. Cumbersome massive documentation

As explained earlier, there is a huge online resource, but sometimes the developers find that difficult to follow. For example, there will be a plugin or component that can be useful in more than one way due to its inheritance property. The developers are likely to get confused with the right approach. 

  1. Expensive plug-ins

The plugins cost dearly, but these external plugins helps the developers create a special feature without much custom coding with Zend. The costs are higher than any other PHP framework. 

Conclusion

The Zend framework is the perfect choice for developers needing an ideal platform for enterprise application developments. It lets them make the best of PHP5 and PHP7. Developers can enjoy a simplified development process as it facilitates faster development and better results. The architecture is elegant with advanced design concepts that are constantly updated. 

​​Zend makes it possible for developers to exhibit their skills provided they get the hand of it. The fact that you can customise it makes it a reliable platform owning distinct functionalities. 

Every business is different in its own kind, and hence it is imperative to hire a software development company that understands the core of your business and delivers solution in the most efficient and scalable manner. You can hire Zend developers in the most cost-effective manner, tailor-made to your requirements. 

Interesting Links:

Laminas Project formerly known as Zend Framework 

Getting Started with Zend Framework 3

Pictures: Canva


The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.

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