Php Taco – WTF!!

I was searching around the net for information on Zend Framework and phpDoctrine and came across Php Taco.

At first glance, I was pretty excited to see how it was setup (Zend Framework, phpDoctrine, Modular layout, etc) as this is basically how I have my zf projects setup.

(From Php Taco’s site)

Libraries

PHP Taco consists of the following PHP libraries.

a)  Doctrine ORM for access to the database

b) PHPTAL for View Templates

c) PHPIDS to detect hacking attempts on the PHP website

d) Recaptcha to prevent spam

e) Blueprint CSS framework

f) JQuery AJAX framework

g) An initial database setup

h) DOT Language

Now let me cover my thoughts on what’s included/setup.

• Doctrine – Great, I use this in my current setup.
• PHPTAL – Personally I’ve never used it, I’m not big on adding a template engine as it is simply something else to be processed and parsed.
• PHPIDS – Never used it, but as it’s for detecting hacking attempts I’m all for it (and will check it out)
• Recaptcha – Simply it’s a service you have to suscribe to, It might be great, but if their service goes down then my site’s broken. I’ll stick to something running on my server.
• Blueprint Css Framework – I’ve not had the time to site and learn Blueprint, but do plan on using a css framework in the future.
• jQuery – Simply awsome.
• DOT Language – what the fucking hell is this SHIT!!!

$this->view->x

becomes

_x

or

@x

and

strtolower("This is a string");

becomes

@x=string lowercase("This is a string")

The excuse for the DOT Language is

The problem is that often PHP functions are not easy to remember what they do. I mean, do you know what reset() or explode() or krsort() do? I have too much trouble remembering new API’s and functions

So, instead of learning new functions, you create your own!!! “Do you know what reset() or explode() or krsort() do?” – Huh… YES!! If you’re going to be a programmer, learn the fucking language!! “string lowercase” might be easier for YOU to remember, but it involves more typing that strtolower, not to mention if I were to work on something that was coded with this BS, I would give it back to you and tell you to fix the shit first.

Take this scenerio for example, take somebody 100% new to php and say they learn this framework and become very good working with it. Now say that person gets a job as a php developer. This same peson will be FIRED on the first day for not knowing implode/explode/ksort etc all because of this DOT bullshit!! OR say this person descides they want to become php certified – now they have to unlearn all these aliases that they learned php with.

There’s a bit more with Php Taco’s setup I don’t like, some more things like the DOT Language, others are simply personal preference (so I really cannot complain about those).