Frameworks are a big topic because frameworks tend to be big (not all, though). We can't talk about all the available PHP frameworks because it would take too much space and time. That would be another book (or series). We can't even do any one of the frameworks justice in this chapter, but that is also not necessary for our purposes. There are three things I want to achieve in this chapter:
Show you why you should consider using a framework
Help you in determining which framework would be a good fit
Create a sample project using a framework
Writing a framework is almost a rite of passage for most PHP developers. Granted, most frameworks don't end up being as comprehensive as the Zend Framework, but that doesn't mean they are not frameworks.
I have personally been through this cycle and I know several other developers that have done the same. You start by realizing that the same basic problems need to be solved in most of the applications...