The document discusses common myths about the Symfony framework. It addresses criticisms that Symfony is hard to learn, extremely coupled, focuses only on configuration rather than programming, is restrictive, performs poorly, and claims it is the ultimate tool. For each myth, the document provides counter arguments explaining why Symfony is easy to learn with documentation and community support, has become less coupled over time, involves significant programming beyond just configuration, and allows for flexibility and customization. It also notes performance depends on caching and configuration choices.

2. myphp-busters:
symfony framework
PHP Conference UK
27-02-2009

3. Adam Savage

4. Jamie Hyneman

5. Stefan Koopmanschap

6. About me
• Professional Services Consultant at Ibuildings
• Husband, father of 2, slave of 6
• Symfony advocate
• Initiator of SymfonyCamp
• Founder of symfony-framework.nl
• Plugin author/maintainer

7. The myths:
symfony is...
• ... hard to learn
• ... extremely coupled
• ... not really programming, just configuration
• ... restrictive
• ... badly performing
• ... the ultimate tool

8. What I want to prove...
• symfony is not crap
• symfony fits in of pookey’s 10%

9. Pookey’s 10%

10. Pookey’s 10%
<pookey> PHP is a fucking filthy horrible language in
90% of usecases.

11. Pookey’s 10%
<pookey> PHP is a fucking filthy horrible language in
90% of usecases.
<pookey> I will back that up with NOTHING

12. Pookey’s 10%
<pookey> PHP is a fucking filthy horrible language in
90% of usecases.
<pookey> I will back that up with NOTHING
<pookey> but it's FACT

13. Pookey’s 10%
<pookey> PHP is a fucking filthy horrible language in
90% of usecases.
<pookey> I will back that up with NOTHING
<pookey> but it's FACT
If you disagree: he’s here

14. Pookey’s 10%
<pookey> PHP is a fucking filthy horrible language in
90% of usecases.
<pookey> I will back that up with NOTHING
<pookey> but it's FACT
If you disagree: he’s here

15. cc-by 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/shonk/418180402/
Symfony is hard to learn

16. Steep Learning Curve
• Full-stack
• MVC
• ORM
• YAML

17. Great documentation
• The Definitive Guide to
symfony
• Practical Symfony
• Propel Edition
• Doctrine Edition
• Various other languages

18. Great documentation
• Official books in digital
form
• Forms in Action
• symfony and Doctrine
• The Cookbook
• API documentation
• Tutorials & Screencasts

19. Community
• IRC: #symfony on
freenode
• Forum
• Mailinglists
• Wiki
• Snippets
• Blog posts
• Various local sites

20. Symfony is hard to learn
• Steep learning curve
• Great documentation (online and offline)
• Friendly and supportive community

21. Symfony is hard to learn
The Verdict

22. Symfony is hard to learn
The Verdict

23. Symfony is hard to learn
The Verdict

24. cc-by 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/u-suke/138067687/
Symfony is extremely coupled

25. Perhaps in 1.0
• symfony was the glue between components
• ORM integrated in the core
• It was full-stack or nothing

26. by-nc-nd 3.0 http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2008/06/23/the-symfony-1-1-architecture
symfony platform

27. by-nc-nd 3.0 http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2008/06/23/the-symfony-1-1-architecture
platform and framework

28. Symfony is extremely coupled
by-nc-nd 3.0 http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2009/02/18/dailymotion-powered-by-symfony

29. Symfony is extremely coupled
• 1.0 had quite some coupling
• 1.1 introduced decoupling of the core: symfony
platform
• it is now possible to use core symfony classes
without symfony

30. Symfony is extremely coupled
The Verdict

31. Symfony is extremely coupled
The Verdict

32. Symfony is extremely coupled
The Verdict

33. symfony is not really programming, just
configuration

34. Just configuration is no fun

35. Programming should be fun
• No boring repetitive tasks
• No standard stuff you did 100 times before
• Write cool stuff
• Focus on the cool parts

36. Yes, there is configuration
• To minimize the boring tasks
• To ensure you don’t repeat yourself
• To enable you to concentrate on complex logic

37. So what is configured?
• database credentials
• caching
• access control (authorization and authentication)
• application specific values
• routing
• admin generator

38. So where do I touch code?
• Your custom complex business logic
• Application specific controller code
• View displays
• Custom administration tasks
• Your own libraries

39. symfony is not really programming, just
configuration
The Verdict

40. symfony is not really programming, just
configuration
The Verdict

41. symfony is not really programming, just
configuration
The Verdict

42. by-nc-sa 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/two-wrongs/205467442/
symfony is restrictive

43. symfony is restrictive
• Default directory structure
• Default set of classes
• Default set of libraries
• ORM included

44. Default directory structure
• Easily change the most
important directory
locations:
• document root
• cache directory
• log directory
• You usually don’t need
to do this!

45. Default set of classes
• Default set offers most
common uses
• Easy to use your own
custom class using
configuration

46. Default set of libraries
• Default libraries
• lime (unit testing)
• prototype
• scriptaculous
• Dozens of plugins
• jquery, dojo, extjs, YUI
• PHPUnit

47. ORM included
• Propel is default
• Doctrine is distributed with symfony
• There is no need for an ORM

48. You can just disable both!

49. Hell, disable the database
• When you don’t use the
database
• Models approach web
services

50. symfony is restrictive
The Verdict

51. symfony is restrictive
The Verdict

52. symfony is restrictive
The Verdict

53. Symfony is badly performing

54. Symfony doesn’t perform

55. Symfony doesn’t perform

56. Disclaimer:
No benchmarks!

58. by-sa 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattieb/131215442/

59. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Slow
• Hard on the server

60. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Overhead
• just like any framework
• tweak it the right way

61. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Select your caching strategy
• Page caching
• Function caching
• Query caching
• Supercache!

62. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Select your caching strategy
• Page caching
• Function caching
• Query caching
• Supercache!

63. Cache

64. Cache

65. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Turn off what you don’t need
• ORM
• Plugins
• Database
• Logging
• Helpers

66. Symfony doesn’t perform
• Don’t believe me!
• Yahoo! Answers
• Delicious.com
• DailyMotion.com

67. Symfony is badly performing
The Verdict

68. Symfony is badly performing
The Verdict

69. Symfony is badly performing
The Verdict

70. by-nc-nd 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandolux/34418046/
symfony is the ultimate tool

71. Symfony is the ultimate tool
• full-stack framework
• based on MVC
• automation of common tasks
• supports agile approach
• MIT license
• DRY

72. Symfony is the ultimate tool
• full-stack framework
• based on MVC
• automation of common tasks
• supports agile approach
• MIT license
• DRY
• All the buzzwords

73. Symfony is the ultimate tool
• Learning curve is more steep
• Has to fit your project
• Has to fit your project team
• There is no single ultimate tool

74. symfony is the ultimate tool
The Verdict

75. symfony is the ultimate tool
The Verdict

76. symfony is the ultimate tool
The Verdict

77. Reference
• http://www.symfony-project.org/doc/
• http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2008/06/23/
the-symfony-1-1-architecture
• http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2009/02/18/
dailymotion-powered-by-symfony
• http://www.symfony-framework.nl/

78. Questions?
• http://joind.in/215
• http://www.leftontheweb.com/
• http://www.twitter.com/skoop
• http://www.ibuildings.com/
• http://www.slideshare.net/skoop