In many ways, this argument is also about what is good for the developer vs. the business that is relying on the application in question. No doubt, a finely tuned “No-Framework Framework” makes sense from the developer’s perspective. Who wouldn’t want a finely tuned application, specific to the needs of the biz.

But it becomes very hard for additional developers to pick up a custom framework and figure out how to start contributing right away to adding value to the business.

So many people just compare feature bullets, or just use whatever their friend recommends. It’s not about that. it’s about what’s right for you at this point in your personal development, for this particular project, taking into account what resources you have available right now.

You definitely walk a fine line when looking at projects run by the One Guy. One the one hand, you might have someone who is really good at it and creating a brand new paradigm. But on the other hand, if the One Guy isn’t good at accepting outside help then you are screwed.

If the One Guy is into sharing, then that is good. If they are not, stay FAR away from the project. As far as I can tell, Node.js is gaining traction because Ryan isn’t acting like a spoiled kid, unwilling to listen to others.

Regarding lesson 2: that means you’ll miss out on a lot of interesting projects. Those “one guys” need help forming a community around their project to get people involved in it. Node.js and CoffeeScript both come to mind as “one guy” projects that have gotten some traction and are starting to amass communities around them.

I think programmers (and I am not alone having gone through this) are seduced by tools that promise them the ability to rapidly build something with minimal code. Given that message, it’s easy to see why people pick the framework instead of the language.

I mean, I cannot be alone remembering what it was like to build web apps before all these frameworks came along. My apps were all of the page-controller-driven type, with the action it performed based on what was passed in as a parameter. Yes, I did check to make sure it was a valid action too. Ah, the good old days.

Given how many frameworks exist for the various scripting languages, I totally get why people do not learn the language first, then pick a framework that fits their needs. It’s too easy to grab a framework and start coding, without really understanding what you’re doing.

Add in cutting-and-pasting of code samples found via search engines and you’ve got a semi-working, semi-incomprehensible code base.

On the ZF mailing lists, it’s not uncommon to find questions asked that are clearly the result of a lack of fundamental PHP knowledge. This always surprises me — it’s as if somebody came to a construction site and wanted to start doing framing without ever having picked up a hammer before. And yet, for many, the first question they ask when starting a language is, “What framework should I learn?”

Looking forward to reading your next adventures in coding!