From the Toronto PHP User Group website today, Darryl Patterson shares some of his thoughts and feelings on the Zend Framework.

I decided to write this little article up after seeing the various responses to a post on the Zend Framework mailing list titled "What is the Zend Framework?" One of the contributors pointed out a post made to a different mailing list that essentially said that they had no clue what the Zend Framework is after visiting the official ZF website.

So, I fire up the browser, and went to http://framework.zend.com/ from the perspective of the beginner to novice PHP developer. Sure enough, the language used there is really meant to target developers who are quite familiar with the concept of frameworks, design patterns and APIs. Not easy topics to grasp when you're new to programming.

He suggests that, even though the site (and software) is targeted primarily at more experienced developers, why can't we have content on the Framework' site targeted to those just starting out? He also asks the question "why do we need the Zend Framework?" and gives some basic facts for beginning developers to consider before getting into it:

• it's not "production ready" yet
• you have to learn the Framework's "language" to use it
• it only works with PHP5 installations

If you're still wanting more information, however, head on over to the Framework's main site to get the full details.