PHP or ASP .NET – Which is Preferable?

Every technology comes with some motive or vision that either creates or demolishes the future of the technology depending upon its real time execution! PHP and ASP .NET are two major web domain specific technologies of the industry, having some common and little uniqueness within them, which have made them to sustain in the industry till date. They have different objectives and visions from their inception and they stick to that to provide their customer base the best in the industry web solutions. When you are asked to choose one which is better for you; you need to be cautious enough because both have their advantages with respect to the requirements of the users; and they both fail to meet the expectations of the client in some specific cases; because they are not developed keeping those scenarios as a priority. So, let’s check out when and where PHP is preferable and when ASP .NET.”
offshore PHP development services

PHP for low cost web development projects: The most important distinguishing feature about PHP and ASP .NET is the cost effectiveness. PHP is an open source technology where as ASP .NET is a proprietary product from Microsoft. Hence the software cost of PHP is too less than that of ASP .NET. In fact, due to its open source nature, PHP developers can get adequate rooms to modify the source code of the language as per their requirements and project demand. Again, the initial cost of PHP installation is negligible as compared to ASP.NET. Hence it is often preferred by small website development projects having limited budget for the development process. Again, the wages of PHP developers are much less as compared to ASP .NET developers due to its easy to learn approach that triggers fresher to kick start their career with PHP at very economic wages. Moreover, due to the open source nature of PHP, the industry is flooded with large numbers of open source PHP modules and plug-ins that help in decreasing the development time significantly. Considering all above situations it is clear that the development cost of any PHP application is less as compared to ASP .NET.

ASP .NET for large scale web applications: Though, ASP .NET is not preferred for low budget or static web projects, but it is having a tremendous demand for large scale web applications that need high performance, speed and better user experience. ASP .NET can handle any size of data driven web application in a hassle free manner without compromising on the quality of the application. The highly expert teams of Microsoft who have built this framework are extremely cautious for the optimization and high efficiency of this framework. The inbuilt libraries, methods and controls are extremely reliable and stable enough to deal with any type of complex situation. On the contrary, PHP as a language can’t afford such amenities for its developers.

Highly customizable and scalable application can be well handled with ASP .NET MVC: Due to the core MVC Architecture i.e., model view controller scheme, ASP .NET enables the ASP .NET developers to approach their programming style in an efficient and systematic manner. It keeps the view part of the application isolated from the model section by an intermediate controller. As a result, different components of the application are loosely coupled with each other and don’t interrupt any other’s functionality at all. This makes the application more scalable and customizable in order to provide enhanced user experience. Moreover, this encourages experienced ASP .NET developers to follow an Agile approach of web development process for utmost productivity from the application which is seriously restricted with PHP.

Programming effort can be decreased drastically with the integration of third party open source PHP modules and plug-ins: Undoubtedly programming becomes efficient within the ASP .NET IDE, but the coding effort of a PHP developer can be decreased tremendously due to availability of readymade modules and plug-ins to be integrated with any PHP web application. There are millions of open source PHP modules and plug-ins available in the industry that can be well integrated into PHP application with a little tweak by the developer. On the other hand, Microsoft strictly prohibits the integration of any unreliable third party modules or plug-ins into an ASP .NET application.

Quick web development can be achieved with the ASP .NET framework: Though, Microsoft never encourages relying on any third party modules and plug-ins but it offers more than that with its inbuilt mesmerizing features. ASP .NET is commonly known as “drag and drop” technology. That means it provides many web contents like form components that can be easily implemented into the application without any hassle. In fact, it enables the developer to take the advantage of its inbuilt validation methods to make the process much easier. As a framework, it also provides enough inbuilt packages, libraries and controls to craft highly optimized and efficient web applications on the fly.

High performance and reliable end product is must with ASP .NET: Since ASP .NET has inbuilt libraries containing large number of commonly used methods and classes, it makes the web development process much faster than that of PHP. To add this, those methods and libraries are developed by the expert team of Microsoft who are highly motivated in writing extremely optimized and stable codes for those components. During the development process when the ASP .NET developer calls those methods or classes, they needn’t to bother about the reliability and efficiency of those inbuilt stuffs. As a result, the end product developed with those components is dam reliable and is highly optimized.

Both support all modern amenities but in a different manner: Modern amenities like integration of JQuery, HTML5, CSS3 and other interactive plug-ins can be integrated with both PHP and ASP .NET applications but in different approaches. PHP enables PHP developers to integrate these amenities manually into their application where as ASP .NET provides many tools, supports and inbuilt packages to take the advantages of these amenities. Moreover ASP .NET also provides scope for crafting highly advanced and contemporary web applications with the support from its inbuilt emulators for different platforms like Android, Windows and iOS. As a result, an ASP .NET web developer can create smart apps for multiple platforms from within the ASP.NET environment.

Finally, it’s not fair to compare a language with a framework! As discussed above, we clearly visualize that ASP .NET outperforms PHP in most of the circumstances and it is obvious as well; because we were trying to compare an industry leading web framework with a web domain specific language. If you are looking for expert PHP development services and are interested to outsource your software development part, then look no further. Mindfire Solutions has been consistently developing industry specific applications for more than a decade now.

What are the pros and cons of using Yii Framework?

A framework can be massively productive for any developer who intends to build compliant, structured and efficient web apps in minimal time. In today’s time, as developers, we have a plethora of diverse frameworks regardless of the language we are programming in. The YII framework, however, is by far one of the most result-oriented, secure web frameworks to depend upon. It is designed for and by PHP to provide better developer experience through its features and better user experience through its end product.

offshore PHP development services

Agreed, it may not be the one of the popular PHP frameworks for web development, it is surely one of the most promising open-source web app development frameworks. Below are some prominent advantages and disadvantages that come with YII, they are worth having a glance at.

Pros:

The open source YII is undoubtedly the fastest framework for building Web2.0 applications (large scale). It renders a highly optimized performance, and can seamlessly be employed by developers for designing any kind of web applications. The generic web programming framework makes web development an enriched, intuitive experience (using PHP), and is perfectly suitable for large scale web applications – including e-commerce projects, forums, web portals, content management systems, RESTful services, and more.

The MVC architecture of Yii helps the PHP web developers in crafting technically a smart web application. It helps in keeping the database server isolated from the view state of the application making it cleaner and effective. The Controller of the frameworks helps in managing different packages and libraries of the frameworks efficiently so that, the code pressure will decrease from the developer. It makes the whole system work as an object where a little tweak on the codebase will modify the entire system simultaneously. Any modification, addition, alters or deletion will be performed in a single line code and it will be visible throughout the application. At the same time, it provides a systematic approach to handle any application building process.

Integrated with a Model-View-Controller structure, YII provides a horde of security features to ensure the highest degree of security to your application. Security plays the most important role in today’s world; because, more number of websites are dealing with sensitive informations like user data, their transaction history and also their personal credentials etc. So it must be given maximum priority in any web application. Fortunately, Yii comes with security features such as Cross-site Request Forgery Prevention, Cross-site Scripting Prevention and Cookie Attack Prevention. Since it is very significant for web developers to ensure thorough security for their app development, the framework comes embedded with authentication support, and authorization through hierarchical role-based access control. There is client side and server side validation as well, which developers can enable or disable as per their project requirements.

The framework stands distinguished for its ability to function smoothly with third party codes. Users can seamlessly use code from their Zend or Pear framework in their Yes It Is (YII’s extended form) framework. This is like an ice on the cake; because this helps in increasing the potential of any web solution in an efficient yet professional manner. Imagine, a web application having the power of both Zend and Yii or of both Laravel and Yii!! They can definitely stand ahead among their peers and can contribute more to the PHP developer.

Web developers also admire its clean, elegant caching support, and component-based architecture. For a developer, YII’s philosophy that code should be simple, and be written in the sophisticated manner works great. With caching, a smart web developer can build highly optimized web applications on the fly. In fact, considering a recent scenario where most of the web traffic are coming from smart devices; it becomes essential for every web developer to consider their website as a cross platform compatible one. Again, since their web app will render over smart phones, so they must be optimized enough so as to render similar user experience in all these memory intensive devices and platforms and fortunately Yii takes care of this wisely.

It also offers ActiveRecord for relational as well as NoSQL databases, not to forget the query builders feature that YII provides. The tool further highlights its some of the most efficient caching features – letting users store cached data in different media. YII paves the way with an extremely solid yet seamless caching system, and lends support to XCache, memcache, ABC, and DB based page.

YII framework is supremely easy to customize or check over, owing to its simple code structure. This enables developers to use varied widgets and extensions depending upon their web project requirements. At the same time, it is thoroughly object oriented – making it an ideal choice for anyone who is versed in object oriented web programming.

The framework provides web developers with neat Ajax helpers, particularly with Grid view, and CRUD generator using Gii. Its Bootstrap extension support simplifies the whole process of creating responsive applications while integrated support for I18N allows users to have localized versions of their applications.

Another significant advantage that YII has over most other programming frameworks is its large community support. The framework is supported and looked after by an extremely efficient team of professionals that consistently contribute to YII’s growth and development. The community pegs away at constantly integrating new features and advanced practices into the core framework – helping it evolve into a more sophisticated, performance oriented web application framework.

Cons:

As a framework, YII does not come flooded with too many minuses. However, there is a portion of developers that steer clear of using YII as a framework for their web programming needs. To begin with, YII reveals kind of an over-reliance on static methods (a part of web developers community may not be comfortable with it).

It is believed that YII demands extreme attention while one works with their application, for their code can quickly become bloated if proper care is not taken.

The framework further has a somewhat steep learning curve, making it operose for new web developers to use or get started with.

Our word

Yes, YII framework does come with a few disadvantages, however, it is extremely powerful as a tool for developing a layered, structured web design. Some amazing attributes such as security, extensibility, theme organization, error handling, and integration with other frameworks make YII a great choice for web app development. We would highly recommend it!

Mindfire Solutions provides expert offshore PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development. We have been working in PHP for the last 8+ years and have gained expertise on various PHP application development frameworks and PHP services.

Checklist of points while migrating to PHP

In software language, migration refers to improvement. With every newer version, you will get more user access for better customization and improved user experience. So you must consider the migration process for your PHP website to make it a smart site on the fly over the latest platform. But, there are many potential threats in the migration process and we can’t ignore them at any situation. You must go through some considerations before you jump into the migration process.”

PHP development

What you get from migration to latest PHP version? Migration means improvement. With the latest version of PHP, you will get enough scope for advanced web application development with many new and enhanced features. Features include support for namespace, Late Static Binding, native Closures, Jump levels, Nowdoc syntax etc. Along with that, a garbage collector is also added for developing advanced web applications on the fly. It is always recommended to remain up-to-date with the latest version of any technology to deal with the ever changing demands of the user.

Back-Up- the term has the highest priority for any Migration process: When you decide to migrate to PHP i.e. the latest version of PHP, the first thing that you should do is to keep a backup of all your previous resources at a secure place. It is recommended to keep those data in a new drive or a different machine drive so that, even by mistake you are not going to lose it during the migration process. The migration process doesn’t take few seconds or minutes rather it may take as long as few hours. So, there is a potential threat of unsuccessful migration process and hence chance of data loss in between. To avoid this issue, there must be a backup of all your resources including the database. Many times the database gets altered during the process so it is necessary to keep the database in a more secure place so that if any data loss occurs we can get it back without much hassle.

Consistency is must: During the migration process due to the change in platform, there is a high chance of inconsistency after the process is completed. It is very common and obvious to find inconsistency between two different versions of any platform. Usually many existing method names, class names and libraries source code get changed in order to provide better quality services with the latest version; but, this affects the behavior of our old PHP application significantly. To avoid this, you must go through each and every modification in the technology and then study the source code of those functions from the documentation and accordingly you should change your previous codes to work with the new platform. In this manner you can avoid the inconsistency issue caused by the migration process.

Compatibility should be well tested: Just like the inconsistency issue, there will be a sure shot compatibility issue when you evolve to the newer version of PHP due to the modified source code. Moreover it also affects the existing plug-ins severely. Most of the plug-ins will not work properly with the latest version and they should be replaced by the corresponding update versions in order to compatible with the latest PHP version. Usually most plug-ins releases their updated versions for the latest PHP version to avoid compatibility issue; but there might be few plug-ins or components that don’t have any compatible updates for the latest version. In that scenario, the developer has to take the responsibility of the plug-ins or components to make them alive in the new platform without mismanaging the application. It can either be done by removing the entire plug-in and its dependencies and then substituting it with another plug-in that may work what the existing was doing previously. Another way is to modify the existing plug-in codebase to make it compatible with the new platform.

Database migration needs full attention from the developer: During the migration if anything is highly unstable then it’s none other than the database. There is a high chance of data loss during the transition and hence you must take preventive steps before you start the migration process. As we have already discussed, the previous database should be kept in a safe and secure environment just like in an isolated drive of the same system or in a different machine. If any data loss occurs we can roll back the database from the backup folder.

Always perform the migration process with a SVN or RTC: SVN or RTC are used for keeping track of any codebase change in the application server. These are highly impactful when we are performing the migration process followed by code modification to make our application fit with the new environment. Usually we find errors and bugs in the new application after the migration process and hence it can be avoided by using an enterprise standard SVN or RTC for versioning purpose. It is like a life saver for the developers during any critical situations; because it enables the application to roll back to its previous version without zero hassle.

Make sure, your application can be roll back if needed: As discussed above versioning tools like SVN or RTC can be used for roll back of modified codebase but what about if the migration process is absolutely unsuccessful? In that case, we have to check if there is any migration tool available for PHP to migrate to a newer version and whether it provides the roll back option if the process is unsuccessful. As a tech savvy, we will not recommend you to rely over a software tool for the migration process and putting all your effort and risk on the same rather we would say it would be an unwise decision to rely on a manmade migration tool. To avoid this you should keep all your existing resource as backup in an isolated location or machine so that in case of unsuccessful migration you can restore your application from the backup.

Finally, Extensive testing is must: Once the migration process is completed there must be many compatibility issue, inconsistency and unreliability in your application. Hence it must be under go severe testing approaches i.e., both manual testing as well as automation testing to find out if any loop hole is still present in the application after iterative testing processes. Never compromise on the quality of testing at any cost because this will seriously hamper your end product or application.

Mindfire Solutions provides expert offshore PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development. We have been working in PHP for the last 10+ years and have gained expertise on various PHP application development frameworks and PHP services. We offer expert PHP web design and programming services for global clients. Our Zend certified PHP programmers are proficient in PHP Porting and Migration services, PHP website development and PHP web development.

Symfony Framework- A comprehensive review

Just like PHP language, Symfony is an open source framework for PHP developers. It aims for high performance and complicated web application development without much effort and resource to be utilized for the development process. Moreover Symfony2 i.e., the subsequent version of Symfony is an open source framework with all amenities that a developer use to get at the cost of a high premium. Being an open source framework, it enables the developers to take the advantages in the form of quality, reliability and security etc. Imagine a software application or framework being developed by a team of hundred members and another framework being developed by a community of millions of developers – then the quality of community driven software application will definitely better than that of its counterpart and the same happens with Symfony2. There is a huge community of Symfony developers who spend their quality effort in developing better and even better framework by fixing each and every bug without any delay. This will definitely improve the quality and security of any open source framework just like Symfony2. Apart from this, due to the availability of source code, a Symfony developer can get the freedom to modify the source code for better flexibility and customisation offerings. What is more? The core of Symfony(2) is highly optimized and hence popular in the industry for developing enterprise standard large scale web applications with minimal effort”.

PHP development

Features that will mesmerize you definitely! Symfony2, an open source framework for PHP developers is highly motivated to develop enterprise standard web solutions that are not only efficient but also feature loaded. IT industry takes Symfony2 as a tool for high performance and large scale web solution development process. Being an efficient framework it reduces the development time and overhead in a magical manner. Symfony2 is a native PHP5 framework and hence it enables PHP developers to take every possible advantage of PHP5. Symfony2 has an inbuilt testing feature to perform different types of testing operations by the developer during the development process itself. It reduces the overall cost of production of any web application to a large extent. Symfony2 is highly decoupled and hence it enables the developer for prompt unit testing of the application through smaller pieces of modules and components. In fact, PHPUnit is there for standard testing purpose. The list is not yet ended; PHP5 has inbuilt debugging features which is extremely funny and productive for the developer. The native debugger is an outstanding feature of Symfony2.

Scalable app development- Symfony2 is here! Symfony2 follows MVC Architecture which is an enterprise level efficient, trusted and tested design for the web industry. With the MVC Architecture it keeps the core logic section of the application isolated from the view through an intermediate controller. Basically MVC Architecture i.e., model view controller architecture is meant for high performance and efficient web application development in less time without any need of more resources and hence it becomes a cost cutting technology for the industry. The model keeps all the data including tables and database that are associated with the application where as the view only renders the final HTML content brought from the model through the controller or analyser of this structure. Any modification in the model will directly affect the entire application and hence it eliminates iterative codes to be executed or modified by the Symfony2 PHP developer. It is highly preferred for scalable software application development.

Efficiency, productivity and reliability from Symfony2: Symfony2 provides outstanding cache management tools and techniques for the web developer to control each and every byte of memory of the application. Considering the fact that there is a tremendous potential for mobile web users, we can’t ignore mobile website development to sustain in the market with more customer base. The improved cache management feature of Symfony enables the web developer in producing highly optimised and efficient websites on the fly. On the other hand, the ease of use and customisation feature of Symfony makes the developer more productive than before. A PHP developer can write better and well maintainable codes on the Symfony2 IDE. It helps in decreasing the overall cost of development and maintenance of a web application to a significant level. The powerful features and components of Symfony helps in developing high quality performance oriented reliable web application development. The inbuilt testing tools and techniques along with native debugger can turnout as a magical reliable tool for the developer.

Symfony2 is highly flexible with support for plug-ins: Every framework has many in built functions, libraries, modules and classes for quick and optimised application development and so the case for Symfony. These features and tools helps in improving the customisation options of an application so that we can end up with an outstanding and attractive website that is fortunately a feature loaded one. Besides inbuilt tools and components, it also offers freedom to the Symfony PHP developer to integrate third party software tools and plug-ins for enhanced user experience. There are millions of external resources available and we can integrate them in our website to give it modern look and feel. jQuery plug-ins and twitter bootstrap micro framework can also be integrated with Symfony for improving potential in developing marvellous web applications.

With jQuery mobile, it can give you better mileage: Symfony2 is jQuery mobile compatible. jQuery mobile is a framework for developing smart sites intended for smart phones and tablets of the industry. It is highly optimised and light weight due to the adoption of HTML5 and CSS3 as the core scripting technology of the framework along with all-time developer’s favourite jQuery. It enables a Symfony developer in developing cross platform and cross browser compatible web application development for Android, iOS, windows and Blackberry operating systems etc. It has inbuilt themes that allow quick mobile website development. Due to HTML5 and CSS3 and powered by AJAX technology, it helps in creating attractive and interactive dynamic and asynchronous mobile websites for outstanding user experience.

Never be alone! Symfony2 is a trusted and tested brand of the industry and having an outstanding track record in developing scalable websites since its inception. No doubt it is a magnificent piece and having a strong developer community around the globe. So you will never feel alone while developing a large scale or light weight mobile application using Symfony platform during any moment of the development phase.

At Mindfire Solutions, we have dedicated developer teams for almost all major PHP Frameworks. We have been providing expert PHP development services to our clients for more than 10 years now and have executed over 100 projects in various PHP and PHP Frameworks. Please feel free to contact us if you have any custom application development requirement, our senior CakePHP, Zend, CodeIgniter, Symfony developers will love to assist you in your requirement.

Review of PHP CodeIgniter Framework

The new era web service applications are designed on a modern platform for better accessibility and code integration: It is known as Model- View- Design pattern or simply MVC. The same, we can find from PHP CodeIgniter platform. As the name suggests, there are 3 components and they are separated from each other by a virtual yet effective screen. It keeps the View i.e. the user interface absolutely isolated from the core logic. The View and the logic are controlled by an intermediate Controller. The Model consist of the core logic, database and rules of the application and it provides the relevant contents to the View i.e. Browser after the instruction of the Controller. By this process, the MVC architecture helps in keeping every aspect of the application safe and secured and most importantly in a systematic manner. Let’s have a glance over the CodeIgniter framework”.

PHP development

Complete documentation for the user: Since, CodeIgniter is a framework developed on the MVC architecture; there are many components, libraries and functions available inside. In fact, the Model designs itself cumbersome. So, it becomes difficult for a developer to start writing code on the platform without any prior knowledge or in-depth knowledge of its components. To make the things easier CodeIgniter provides a complete documentation for all its components and features. As a smart web developer, you should go through each and every page of the documentation so as to make the best use of the framework. The documentation works like a user guide and hence it is extremely useful from the developer’s point of view. It has various indexes like MVC basics, Routing basics, Form validation, Performance improvement etc and these are extremely important in developing an enterprise standard web solution. It is always recommended to learn the documentation along with a corporate training for improved productivity of the developer.

Installation will not take more time or effort: CodeIgniter is a web application framework developed in PHP and enables PHP web developers in building reliable yet faster web solutions without much hassle. To getting started with CodeIgniter, one needs to install the framework on the server. For the same, you need to download the software and unzip the package from internet. Now you have to upload all the folders and files to the server on which you are suppose to work on. You can also use encryption or sessions by setting encryption key. The process is very simple and it doesn’t require any hard effort from the developer. Once you configure CodeIgniter you can start coding from the index.php page.

Advanced features have made it to sustain in the industry for years: There are many advanced and effective features that CodeIgniter possesses for designing high quality web applications. The most important feature of CodeIgniter is its MVC Architecture, which is extremely helpful in creating complex web applications in less time and with more accuracy. CodeIgniter is extremely light weight and hence it can help you in building light weight web applications that will definitely load faster on the browser especially when we are considering modern browsers for smart phones and tablets etc. CodeIgniter has an inbuilt form and data validation feature that eliminates the unnecessary effort that is being given by the developer in other platforms. It has FTP class and File Uploading class for manipulation of files in the application server. The enhanced full page caching features can definitely help in improving the performance of the application and hence user experience. It has other features like Active Record Database Support, Session Management, Error logging and Calendaring class etc.

SEO with CodeIgniter: Search engine optimisation is the most important feature of any web framework and it is now a must for every framework. Just like other PHP frameworks i.e., WordPress, Joomla etc, CodeIgniter also possess a search engine optimisation tool to make the PHP website well visible on Google. The search engine optimisation process starts with the title of the page and the search engine friendly URL. CodeIgniter has support for creating search engine friendly URLs along with other SEO features like key word density calculation, URL routing and SEO analysis etc. The URL routing or rewriting technique helps in improving page ranking in the search engine for better visibility of your website.

Ease of Use for CI developers: A framework can’t sustain for a decade in the industry without any potential. CodeIgniter has already proved its potential with awesome features and of course easy to use developer interface. The developer interface of CodeIgniter is extremely easy to understand i.e. a beginner can start coding on the platform without much hassle. Different components of the framework can easily be integrated to the application for enhanced productivity. It has many templates available for the CodeIgniter developer so that he can start developing web pages easily with the templates that are already made available for the developers.

Migration process is not a headache for you: Migration is something used for the improvement of your application with more optimised classes and data query. In web application development process it is extremely important for any business to be up to date with time in order to provide better customer support for your service or product. In CodeIgniter, the developer is allowed to manage his database schema for different environments and platform. The developer needn’t to manually run the MySQL queries for this process rather it can be done from within the platform itself. The best part is that it also provides scope for the CodeIgniter developer to reverse or role back of the migration process if found any issues during the migration. With CodeIgniter you can track all the versions of your database changes just like versioning of files as we use git i.e., we can go back or forward easily to a different DB version as per our requirement and as when we need it.

Flexibility and customization is really a wonderful feature: A framework is usually having some optional features that can be achieved for your application with the integration of plug-ins, themes etc. CodeIgniter developers are allowed to integrate various open source plug-ins developed in PHP or jQuery to make the website more feature loaded and attractive. A PHP developer can customise his web application through different plug-ins and components for enhanced user experience. On the other hand, it also helps in extending the functionality of the application without any high effort due to availability of source code from CodeIgniter expert community.

Nevertheless to say, CodeIgniter has an amazing track record of more than a decade and how this is possible we can easily guess from above discussions.

At Mindfire Solutions, we have dedicated developer teams for almost all major PHP Frameworks. We have been providing expert PHP development services to our clients for more than 10 years now and have executed over 100 projects in various PHP and PHP Frameworks. Please feel free to contact us if you have any custom application development requirement, our senior CakePHP, zend, CodeIgniter, Symfony developers will love to assist you in your requirement.

Should we use Zend Framework Pros and Cons

Frameworks work like a blessings for software developers. It not only decreases the effort of a developer but also improves his productivity and programming skill. A framework is like an abstraction in which the software developer can put his code to make it a fully fledged application in less time and with more accuracy in a systematic manner. It is like a platform containing code libraries, tool sets, and many inbuilt modules that can help the developer in creating enterprise standard software applications. Zend framework is a PHP framework which is absolutely dedicated for the development of PHP web applications on the fly. It can create high performance and powerful web applications in less time and effort. But as we know nothing is perfect in the world and so the case for Zend framework. Though, Zend framework has a lot of useful features but also it has some cons”.

Zend Programmers

Pros of Zend framework:

Highly customizable: Customisation is the ability of a framework to help the web developer in creating a web application with numerous features and options. In other words we can say this is the flexibility tendency of a framework. The more flexible a framework is, the better it is from the developer’s point of view. Zend framework has a victorious record for customisation offerings in the industry. With Zend framework you can tailor your website in any manner you like with different customising tools available with the framework. It provides consoles, local storage, and user configuration options for the web application to make it more flexible and attractive enough. Again it is a fully object oriented framework and follows inheritance and reusability concepts of OOP for well-organized and personalized web development. It enables the PHP developer to control over each and every feature of the framework and hence creating a beautiful website from within the platform. The best part is that you can customise your Zend application at your finger tips in no time and hassle.

For all your big data application, there is Zend: Zend framework has everything in the form of an object. As a result, a Zend developer can take the advantage of code reusability and inheritance for his application. This is highly recommended for enterprise standard large scale web applications. Zend framework can handle any type of and any number of dependencies in an application without slowing down the performance. The framework has an awesome architecture built on MVC pattern that will definitely mesmerize you while dealing with complex component of the web application. Hence there is a potential demand for Zend developers in the industry especially for big data applications.

HTML5 Compliant: Zend framework is developed with HTML5 and hence a web designer can take the advantage of Zend framework for quick web page development that is not only light weight but also elegant in nature. It has HTML5 form features available from within the framework. It supports input types like E-mail, URL, Phone number, date pickers and search etc. You needn’t to bother about the client side field validation since it is taken care by Zend. Zend also provides new types like datalist, keygen and output etc.

Larger community support: Zend is not a new framework for PHP developers; in fact it is an old framework having a stunning track record. Due to its unmatched quality and usability it is vastly accepted in the industry and there are many popular websites being developed in Zend. There are thousands of Zend certified PHP developers available in the industry and they are serving the industry through their experience and expertise in the field. On the contrary this will help other developers in getting support from Zend community for any type of issues that arise during the development process.

Efficiency and speed is simply awesome: Zend follows the object oriented approach of C++ and hence this is highly powerful and fast. A PHP website that is developed in Zend platform is usually runs faster than that of any other framework. Hence all big data web applications prefer to use PHP Zend framework. Zend has almost unlimited number of customisation options for the developer and this will definitely help the developer in creating highly optimised and efficient web solutions.

Cons of Zend framework:

Getting started is not as easy as with any other PHP framework: Unlike any other PHP framework, Zend is truly heavy and huge. It has a large volume of libraries, components and classes available inside the core. Though it helps in crafting any type of web application without the need of any external resources, but again you should know all the features of the framework to use them efficiently. It will take few months to be familiar with these inbuilt functions so that, you can take the best advantage of the framework. Once you learn these features and understood the core architecture of the framework, you can start coding on Zend for an awesome application.

Lack of enough resource for the beginners: It is really true that there are minimum resources available on web for Zend developers. This is probably due to availability of all features and components within the framework itself. But for beginners it is a disadvantage because he needs some resources and tutorials on the framework to sharpen his programming skill.

Expensive plug-ins: Though Zend is highly powerful and efficient but again it comes with some shortcomings. There are many plug-in available in the market to help the developer in adding better and refreshing features to the application but at the cost of good bucks. It is believed that the plug-ins available for Zend platform are usually costs more than that of any other platform.

Huge documentation can be confusing sometimes: Zend has a beautiful documentation consisting of every tiny detail of the framework. Since there are a large number of features available in the framework hence we can expect a bigger volume of documentation to describe all those features and components. Many times, it becomes tough for the PHP developer to check each and every page of the documentation to understand the true power of the framework. In fact, it creates confusion in the developer’s mind when he is projected to work in the Zend platform without any prior expertise or experience.

Every framework is having some advantages along with few disadvantages and so the case for Zend as well. But considering the advantages of Zend, the disadvantages are simply negligible. So you can go ahead with Zend for your next web application project.

Mindfire Solutions is one of the oldest PHP development companies in India with 15 years of track record. We have delivered over 1000 custom applications to our esteemed clients. Our PHP team consists of certified Zend Programmers who can take up complex web projects. If you have any web application idea in mind or you want to give new life to an existing application, please feel free to get in touch with our PHP and Zend team; we will revert back within one business day. As a limited time offer, you can also avail our Risk-Free trial offer.

An insight into PHPStorm

PHPStorm- An intelligent IDE for PHP web developers: PHPStorm is like a blessing for PHP developer. It is an outstanding IDE or editor for PHP web developers. It is developed by Jetbrains and has a received a tremendous popularity from the IT industry in a very less span of time due to its magical features. It not only supports PHP codes but also other web scripts like javascript, JQuery, HTML and CSS etc. It helps in reducing the effort and time of a web developer to a large extent with its intelligent properties. When we say it’s intelligent, that means it is smarter than other IDEs like komodo or notepad plus etc.

PHP development

Why IDE? IDE stands for integrated development environment. This is like an editor that capable to be integrated with a framework for better productivity. It provides numerous types of assistance to a PHP developer during the development process which helps in avoiding silly mistakes and hence bugs in the application. On the other hand it also reduces the effort of the tester to a large extent due to minor bug free application. Hence it is like a integral part of the development process for any web application development project.

Code assist: The basic nature of PHPStorm is to provide code assistance to the programmer during programming. It helps in different programming supports like code auto complete, code suggestion and highlighting different components of the web application. It also helps in maintaining proper indentation in the programme that can help the application to be well readable and maintainable for future. Moreover it can also suggest for different method name, variable name or even library name during the development process which definitely helps the developer in avoiding common spelling mistakes in the application. Different web components like HTML tags, CSS tags etc are highlighted on PHPStorm platform that helps the developer in avoiding unnecessary silly mistakes.

PHPDoc support: PHPDoc is well supported by PHPStorm. As a result it helps in developing enterprise standard web applications with global rules adopted by the developer. It gives the application a new standard that will definitely help the application to be debugged in future. Well we can make few customisations in this option for our requirements and needs.

Debugging can be hassle free: With PHPStorm IDE a PHP developer can debug the application in a more professional and efficient manner. He can take the help of other debugging tools like xdebug for quality debugging in less time and with more accuracy. In other words we can say the debugging process can be easier through PHPStorm.

Productivity increases: PHPStorm helps PHP web developers in writing industry standard professional codes on the platform. Moreover these codes are not only well readable but also highly maintainable and flexible in nature. Hence it reduces the overall maintenance cost of the application in a long run scenario. Due to its intelligent features as discussed above it reduces not only the time and effort of the developer and tester but also the overall cost of production of the project making it quite productive than before.

Mindfire Solutions provides expert PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development. We also have dedicated teams of various important PHP Frameworks like Zend Developers Team, Kohana Developers Team and CodeIgniter developers Team. If you want to Outsource PHP Development or hire PHP Developers, you are at the right place. Please write to us at sales at MindfireSolutions dot com and we will be sending a free quotation in one business day.

Top Reasons – Why small business owners use PHP to develop applications?

PHP a true web language in the web era: In 21st century if anything has seen a tremendous growth that is none other than internet and hence the web development. So if we say this is the web era of 21

Outsourcing JavaScript Development

st century then it will not be a wrong statement. Internet is everywhere with mobile networks like 2G, 3G and 4G, wifi and through broadband connections as well. Before a decade it was limited to wired internet services. But now it is wireless and hence it can be reach to any remote place without much effort. People in remote places are also browsing internet web applications using wireless mobile networks. At the same time, we have seen a tremendous market growth of smart phones and mobile devices due to their extensive use in the internet connectivity. All these favourable situations create a heavy demand for web developers and web languages in the industry. PHP is one such web language which is totally dedicated for web development process only; It has nothing to do with desktop applications or hardware applications and it can do everything in web applications and modern smart phone web apps.

PHP is Open Source and hence having a low cost of ownership: For any start-up software firm, the initial investment matters a lot. They want better product at an affordable cost to sustain in the market. For them, PHP works like a boon due to its open source in nature. Any start-up can afford PHP to develop its initial web applications within his budget. Moreover, there are many open source and free frameworks are available for PHP which helps the web developers in developing enterprise standard web solutions in less effort. This really improves the productivity of the organisation as a whole.

We can hire low wage PHP developers: Due to its simple in nature fresher and beginners are more interested to learn PHP in order to kick start their career in web development in the industry. As a result, software farms get an opportunity to hire efficient PHP developers as fresher for their next web application. Well, it is not to mention that any start-up can hire PHP developers at comparatively low wages. So this is a win-win situation for both the PHP developer and the software farm.

PHP has a huge size of new modules in web: Due to open source, we can find millions of PHP modules in web and fortunately almost all are free to use. So a web developer can customize those modules as per his requirement and can integrate it to his application project. This makes a lot of mean when we think about faster web development with efficiency and accuracy without much effort.

All modern amenities under PHP: Web development process is not complete until and unless we think about web apps for modern devices like smart phones and tablets. Fortunately PHP has all necessary features to develop enterprise standard responsive web applications using modern technology like JQuery, HTML5 and CSS3. Moreover, web developers can develop different interactive and attractive mobile apps and web apps using PHP for the modern era web browsing.

After all, Support matters a lot: PHP has one of the largest developer communities in the IT industry. So we can expect an immediate, quick and effective solution to our issue while dealing with complex situations in web development process. We can get the help of both online and offline support community to develop flawless modern web applications for our client.

Mindfire Solutions provides expert PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development.If you want to Outsource PHP Development or hire PHP Developers, you are at the right place. Please write to us at sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com and we will be sending a free quotation in one business day.

Why is MySQL considered a partner of PHP?

We have landed in the web era: Hey guys, am I mistaking!! I hope no. Managing our day-to-day task in the desktop is gone and now it’s time to organize our life on the cloud. Who needs that heavy desktop for just a small calculation which we can be performed in our iPhone and can be kept inside our chest pocket? Everything is now online may it be message service (chatting, e-mail and sms), organising our life and business using software like file maker and bento etc. Organisations also love to use web services more than that of desktop applications which is rigid and irritating. So everything is depending on the wireless internet connectivity. Understanding the situation many software firms including offshore software development organisations are now tensed to build modern web applications for the industry. There is an adrenal rushing in their vein to build more and more web applications by the web developers.

PHP Development

PHP a perfect web language: In this situation if anything has received tremendous support from the web developers then that is none other than PHP development. Being one of the web languages, PHP received a tremendous popularity among the developers in building modern enterprise standard web applications. One can start his web development process now with PHP by just studying some tutorials on the web. PHP is extremely easy to learn and develop web applications for the new web developers of the industry. Hence PHP is treated as the main gate to enter into the IT industry by the web developers in less effort and small time.

PHP is a dead concept without MySQL and the combo becomes deadly for sure: When we think about PHP the first word comes to our mind is open source. Yes PHP is an open source language and hence a PHP developer can modify the source code of the language. Due to open source in nature we can start using it for developing our own web application without any bucks to invest. This makes it first choice for the beginners to kick start their carrier in web development. But, any server side language like PHP is incomplete or we can say dead without a database support. Fortunately, MySQL has similar nature to that of PHP. My SQL is also an open source database service. Hence we can develop a complete web application using both PHP and MySQL without any investment. This is really like a boon for the web developers or PHP developers to start their website development from the day one with this open source language – database deadly combo.

PHP and MySQL for modern web development: Both PHP and MySQL when get together results in an enterprise standard web application which is not only superfast but also efficient. Due to low start-up cost, many offshore software development farms and their clients love to develop industry standard web application in less time, money and effort. Most importantly, we can develop modern web applications using HTML5, CSS3 and dynamic java script in addition to PHP MySQL for different platforms and devices. Of course we needn’t to say, the web developers (PHP developers) can also build responsive web applications using these technologies for modern smart phones and tablets.

Industry respects this couple: Industry also understands and hence respects the strong intangible relation between PHP and MySQL. Hence, they are giving away gifts like wordpress, zend framework etc to the web developers.

We provide PHP web development services. If you would like to hire PHP developers for your web development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions.

The necessity of certification in PHP development

PHP has retained the same essence in the industry even after a decade!! PHP is only technology that showed courage to fight against the monopoly of Microsoft’s ASP .Net and Java in the web industry. To add this, PHP also gained success in the industry due its continuous effort. During the beginning phase, PHP could not perform better; but with time it learned from its mistake and made them as their weapon for the next version. As a result, it comes up as a winner in the industry. Considering its popularity and power, new generation software developers or web developers are willing to work in PHP to showcase their talent in the industry. This is creating a competitive environment in the industry and hence PHP developers are under pressure. To overcome this, they are trying to get corporate trainings on the technology to polish their knowledge and skill. In other words, we can say they are trying to achieve Certifications in PHP to prove their talent. Today we will discuss the importance of such certification in PHP.

php development

Certification is nothing but a symbol of your proficiency: When you are having a certification in any technology, it simply refers to your command over the language and the same happens with PHP development as well. Though it is not a concrete way to measure someone’s talent or skill; but it can be accepted to some extent. Even a qualified graduate may not be come up as a skilled labour in later phase of its life; but at the same time many certified developers can be more valuable!! Hence certification always refers to skill; it may not be talent always.

Certification can help you creating a unique position in the industry: Imagine, you are one of the thousands of PHP developers seating in a hall. If you have a certification in PHP and it is limited in this hall, you will definitely feel privileged. Isn’t? You will feel that awesomeness in the bulk due to your unique characteristics. Moreover you will get some additional scope among your peers. You will get more chance in an interview if you are having a certification in PHP. Moreover, a certified PHP developer means efficiency, experience and skill. So, a software farm when thinks to hire some efficient PHP developers, it will definitely think about Certified developers more positively than others. So, it is always beneficial to have a certification in PHP.

It can help the industry in getting quality professionals: On the other hand, when there are more numbers of certified developers in the industry, it will lead to better output. Because they will put their expertise and experience in web development process and that will lead to awesome output. In this situation, the developers will get better opportunity from the industry and the industry will get better quality of resource for the development process. So it will create a win-win situation for both developers and industry. Then what are you waiting for? Have a certification today in PHP.

We provide PHP web development services. If you would like to hire PHP developers for your web development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions.