Zend 2.0 beta 1: Getting Started

Zend Framework is huge, and Matthew Weier O'Phinney, Zend's project leader, rides the behemoth skilfully.

Who better than Matthew to tell you about Zend Framework 2.0? which was just released, during ZendCon 2011, in late October.

Well, you might try Rob Allen's DevNotes, which have attracted quite a following. And with good reason: Rob's feedback influenced the development of the MVC significantly (according to the official release announcement).

Or you can read through the official release announcement, which runs through most of the new features.

But the biggest part of the new beta, the reason the new features were developed, is the completed reworked MVC layer. Zend is very proud of this -- check out the quick start guide, along with a skeleton app and skeleton module.

The whole application architecture has been revised as well. Zend 2.0 beta 1 now boasts a 'modular application architecture', which Matthew Weier O'Phinney explains like this:

For ZF2, "modular" means that your application is built of one or more "modules". In a lexicon agreed upon during our IRC meetings, a module is a collection of code and other files that solves a specific atomic problem of the application or website. 

So modules are defined by problems (not by functionality) -- 'what do you want to do', rather than 'what do you want to use'.

For example,  a site might have a 'pages' module, a 'forum' module, and a 'blog' module -- each of which is developed separately, each of which can be re-used in other applications. (I'm thinking a forum module sounds especially re-usable in a context like this.)

Now that you're bored of the non-technical details, you'll be happy to know that Matthew's blog post dives much deeper into the project structure and actual code. His explanation is quite clear and provides examples every step of the way.

If you want to learn more about this significant addition to Zend, then peruse Matthew's full introduction to writing Zend Framework 2 modules.