Ratings and Reviews : Listing
I have been developing web applications with Django for about a year and a half now, but decided to look into using PHP for a side project, since it will be much easier (and cheaper) to host PHP than Python+FastCGI.
I was pleased to discover CodeIgniter, and further pleased to find it comparable in terms of flexibility and brevity. I find it has much of the spirit of Django (DRY principle, decoupled MVC, lots of plugins, lots of batteries included).
I found CodeIgniter's object-relational mapping to be similar in feel to SQLAlchemy.
Before you write off PHP as too monolithic for web apps, give CodeIgniter a try.
CodeIgniter is the best MVC framework for PHP to master mainly because the documentation is superb and easy to understand so there isn't much of a learning curve. Also because unlike other MVC platforms, it doesn't force you with restrictive conventions. I know conventions are good but there are times when you are working with an old DB or different Coding Standard and CodeIgniter gives you lots and lots of flexibility!
It's super versatile, fast and powerful! Use it!
