FrameWorks
 

I've seen many sites take a turn onto the framework road and I was just wondering (because iv'e downloaded zenframework). How do I use frameworks? whats the purpose?, besides security and stability. If I coded a php application how do I introduce the framework to the application?

please excuse my newbness.

With most frameworks you can't just apply it to your current application. They're made for making it easier to code an application and usually has a way that you have to code your application in. To learn how to use a framework, please check the website of the framework you want to use, there should be a tutorial or something similar.

This can be true with some frameworks but there are some really good ones out there that truly speed up application development. I find CodeIgniter to be the best framework because it is small and lightweight, easy to use, very flexible, and has great documentation.

Still requires a fairly big amount of work to apply CodeIgniter to an application that has already been made.

A framework can be used to help speed up development. It does this because all the generic coding (DB, Authentication etc) has already been done, so you don't have to use up valuable time recoding unnecessarily and also you don't really need to fully test each bit as you know it should work, saving time (time=money these days).

However, most frameworks implement some fairly advanced programming concepts like MVC, Active record etc, so using these frameworks as a new php'er (or even a veteran coder) can seem daunting at first if you dont understand them.

Its true that most frameworks have manuals but until you have come to grips with the basic ideas of these advanced concepts it will most likely leave you baffled.

Anyway for Zend, there are a few video tutorials that you may find useful.

Zend Framework

I belive there are similar for CodeIgniter too, but I haven't checked

I personally don't really use frameworks, I usually find they are too big and cumbersome for what I need and I find it quicker just to fudge something together from my own code base rather than studying a vast and complex framework to get simple things done.

That is very true and I wouldn't suggest taking an existing application and remaking it with a framework unless you where planning on remaking it anyways.

Frameworks are made for easing the application development and deployment. What you need to focus on when working with a framework is your logic, instead of the "behind code" programming. Plus, you don't have to repair the core code, you only need to repair YOUR code if something goes wrong (perhaps ZF has some inner bugs, but they can be easily fixed if you know how it works). Of course, learning a framework can be a little tricky, but one you get the basics, it all becomes very easy. However, I would only recommend Zend Framework for developing large scale applications. It works extremely well and is fully compatible with PHP5. Besides that, it has a large amount of already made classes and a built-in helpers system. I don't see CodeIgniter (not even CakePHP) as a true framework, because the pattern they follow involve too much learning and sometimes it can be really hard to accomplish what you want to achieve. Even ZF has its flaws and sometimes needs some hacking, but atm it's the best PHP framework to use.

What?! I've tried all three so I know what I'm talking about when I say that CodeIgniter and CakePHP are very easy to learn. Zend Framework is hard to learn in my opinion.