PHP web development has always been a complex and time consuming task. But not anymore! This is all thanks to high-end PHP frameworks. Agile application development is now not only easy, but it is also faster. These high-end PHP frameworks come to your rescue when time is a big issue and you want to implement those high-end functionalities in your application in the least possible time. Image credit: Flickr This is thus the time that you need to look at popular PHP frameworks. Without any delay, let us take a look at the top PHP frameworks that would help you develop agile and secure applications. Laravel Packed with a lot of interesting features, a tempting engine and other development related stuff, Laravel provides your application with a reliable and tested environment. Painless routing, a robust library and powerful ORM along with simple authentication are some of the features that make Laravel the first choice for developers. Allows you to easily manage third-party packages with its tool composer. Has an easy to comprehend syntax. Eliminates testing hassles with its built-in unit testing. Allows you to manage client and server routes through Restful routing. Provides you with the flexibility to craft enthusiasts’ small businesses into big enterprise applications all in one go! Phalcon Named as one of the fastest PHP frameworks that the industry has ever witnessed, Phalcon provides you with an array of features. They include asset management, security and translations, which make it one of the most preferred MVC frameworks boosted by PHP. Consider Phalcon to develop micro application and high-end MVC applications with multi modules. Easy to grasp and...
PHP and ASP.NET are definitely not new to the web development industry. They have both been major contributors to website and enterprise applications for many years now. Python, Django, Ruby on Rails and a lot of others have challenged their survival. But these two languages have always emerged stronger, all thanks to the feature set that they possess and the flexibility that they provide to developers. PHP development and ASP.NET development have been in a neck and neck competition with each other for the title as the best. And have thus forced CTOs and enterprise owners to make the difficult decision of which one to choose for their enterprise application? So let us find out more about these two languages! ASP.NET and PHP at a Glance ASP Active Server Page (also known as ASP) is scripting language mainly used on the server side which was developed by Microsoft. Image credit: Flickr It is a more powerful server side language and hosts an array of features, including links to the backend, session, and state management, and handling request and response parameters. A webpage that has been designed using ASP will include static HTML tags and dynamic validation using JavaScript or VBScript. Dynamic generation of HTML and CSS is also possible with ASP.NET. How Does ASP.NET Work? You request an ASP page which is on a server and the corresponding page fetches the information from the database. This then dynamically generates the HTML code for you to present your requested data and it sends it to you to view in a browser. PHP PHP is a scripting language. PHP is...
PHP has a large footprint in the web development community. With over 80% of all existing websites running on PHP code, we can confidently say that PHP has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in web development. A major reason for many developers choosing PHP is its wide range of developmental frameworks. PHP frameworks enable you to build websites and apps of all sizes and complexity levels without having to start from scratch. So, the massive growth of PHP-based web development can be rightly attributed to these excellent frameworks. But, then again, the real question is which PHP framework is best suited for your needs. While choosing the best framework can be subjective and based on your particular needs, there are few qualities that make a framework the best choice in many cases. Yii and Zend are two frameworks with such amazing features and capabilities. So, here is a brief overview of both these frameworks to help you decide which is the best one for your MVC development project. Yii Yii has been a popular choice among developers to develop large-scale and secured applications. It was launched in 2008 and is one of the oldest PHP frameworks still going strong. Yii 2.0 is the latest version available. This framework is suitable for developing secure applications with complex workflows. It is also great for developing CRM and CMS applications. Yii is a high-performance, component-based PHP framework that is designed to make your MVC development fast and easy. It is flexible and includes a variety of features, including: Integration with jQuery, Gii module – a built-in code generator, and Active record – the ability to access...
Have you been keeping track of the leading eCommerce platforms that have emerged in recent years for businesses? If yes, then Magento is sure to figure in that list of popular eCommerce solutions that have made lives easier for businesses to go online with their products or services. Magento has been known to help businesses seamlessly build an online store across any category, customise it as per their changing needs, attract more customers and generate better sales. This open source Content Management System (CMS) has been constantly evolving with new solutions and tools, due to which it has been trusted and utilised by more than 240,000 businesses across the globe. This number is estimated to rise by leaps and bounds in the coming years as the demand for eCommerce increases. So let’s check out the advantages offered by Magento, especially for small businesses, and compare it to other eCommerce platforms or CMSs. 1. A Customisable Open Source Solution Magento (Community Edition) is open source and can be downloaded for free. Once installed, you are not restricted to the standard templates, but you can customise it as per the dynamic requirements of your business. Image credit: Flickr You can boost your eCommerce store with several new features and functionalities by installing Magento extensions that are available at the Magento Connect marketplace. For small businesses, this customising option is pretty handy since the eCommerce needs of these businesses may be pretty specific. 2. Strong Community Support To enjoy a smooth experience with any new tool or CMS, like Magento, that you haven’t used before, you will always feel the need to have...
The decisions you make today have a strong bearing on the operations of your business in the future. In order to make sound decisions, your enterprise needs to have the latest operational intelligence information. This is where ‘Business Intelligence’ (BI) comes in and a qualified BI consultant will be able to track your company’s status and operational data very quickly and efficiently. The global market for BI platforms is witnessing a constant rise that has made it rank among the fastest growing enterprise software industries. As per Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for BI and Analytics platform from earlier this year, this growth is expected to take place at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 8.7% through to 2018. Source: Gartner (February 2015) Martin Butler, an industry expert, commented on the importance of BI by saying that “an organisation without Business Intelligence bears a striking resemblance to a ship without a rudder” in his latest report. So in this article, we will look at the reasons your organisation needs a Business Intelligence consultant, along with some tips to find the right BI consultants and hire them at the right time. Tasks Performed by BI Consultants An ideal BI consultant for your business will have sound knowledge of the underlying data system, along with programs and tools that create the data. The primary job involves carrying out constant monitoring of the business data and generates timely reports that can be shared with your company’s management on a frequent basis. One of the most important yet ignored tasks performed by any BI consultant is finding and listing down requirements. The consultant can devise relevant strategies...
Any guesses as to what has been named as the ‘sexiest job of the twenty-first century’? According to the Harvard Business Review, it is the job of a data scientist. Surprised? With the amount of data we are generating coupled with the rapid increase in technology, it is no surprise that we need an expert to make sense of all this data and do much more. A data scientist is soon going to become a basic need for most companies. So what exactly does a data scientist do? Who is a Data Scientist? The basic job of a data scientist is to analyse data. He does this himself, but he also builds automated systems that do so. Statistics and machines play a big part in the process. A data scientist needs to needs to be good with numbers, but also needs to have a scientific bent of mind. The job of a data scientist is required today than ever before. Think of the Internet – think how much data is generated there. The number of YouTube videos uploaded each minute, the number of Facebook posts liked every minute, the number of products bought online every minute; and this does not even cover a tenth of the activity that is conducted on the Internet. This kind of data can give invaluable insight and information to a company, depending on what they are looking for. But how do you look for what you want in such a complicated maze and so much sheer volume? This is what a data scientist does. Data scientists can also make predictions. These predictions are based...
While browsing through a website with an extremely easy user interface (UI), our mind inadvertently goes back to the times when just loading a web page was an enduring task. Moving from the mouse-driven computers to smartphones and tablets, web pages have adapted themselves seamlessly over the years. The year 2015 and beyond will witness some benchmark transformations in front-end technologies. Internet users will traverse this wave of change, enjoying speedier and more appealing web pages. Moving along this technological wave, we are hooked on providing the best web solutions today. Based on our expertise, here is an in-depth view of the current and future trends in front-end development. The User’s Perspective Front-end development is the face of the application. As users, we want web pages to be friendly and appealing. Here are some aspects of front-end technologies which users are most interested in: Compatibility: The ability to adapt to different internet browsers. Usability: This attribute signifies the easy-to-use aspect of the website. Complexity: This specifies the back-end of the web application, which controls the speed and security of the data. Whatever the style and time may be, engaging these aspects remains unchanged. Recent Trends in Web Development Web technologies have taken a major leap with the changing requirements. The applications that go well on a laptop screen are now also compatible with mobile phones. There are some important parameters that have implemented these changes, so let’s take a look of these: Responsive Web Design For any website, the response of users is the most imperative factor. A responsive web design (RWD) allows users to browse the website from...
While building a multifaceted and interactive web application, architects and developers are usually met with the challenge of performance, maintainability and modularity and are in constant need of a set of frameworks that can act like a backbone to their project and help them knock-out all the glitches in the process. JavaScript, a programming language that was designed to give easy access to pre-built components that serve as building blocks for a webpage, thus entered the field. Gone are the days when web development was all about uploading static HTML, CSS and JavaScript files to an HTTP server. Modern web applications are much larger and more complex than earlier and require a framework of language that provides structure, quality and maintainability all at the same time. JavaScript frameworks were created to address the need of building a stable foundation for a web application. What are JavaScript Frameworks? JavaScript frameworks are libraries of pre-written JavaScript that allow easier development of JS-based applications by providing a layer of abstraction on top of the core language. These frameworks provide a multitude of functions and help make it easier and more achievable for developers to create responsive, fluid and maintainable interfaces for web apps. JavaScript frameworks are open-sourced, released under the permissive MIT license and aim to resolve the problem of single page web apps using an MVC or MV* design pattern. Top JavaScript Frameworks There has been a great surge in MV* frameworks over the past few years and the list of new and stable frameworks continues to grow each year. Developers usually find themselves lost in choice as to which framework...
Outsourcing was considered a taboo in its early days, but slowly it is proven as one of the most significant business models. The rosy days of the global economy are gone and so, while, lowering financial liabilities, organisations have to sustain the quality of service and employ a workforce that is economically affordable and efficiently skilled. Many countries like China, Malaysia, Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, and Thailand are rapidly growing as preferred destinations for global outsourcing, but India leads the race by a wide margin since the inception of outsourcing. So, let’s see why and how India managed to remain in the spotlight. Cost Effectiveness Every business strives to be as cost effective as possible, and one of the best ways to cut down on operational costs is to reduce manpower expenses. India qualifies well on this metric and hence attracts foreign companies to invest here, as resource wages are comparatively lower as compared to other countries. With low labour costs, immense human resources and excellent infrastructure, offshore companies can invest and expect their projects to be completed with high quality and minimum expenses within strict deadlines. Skilled, Professional Manpower Currently, India has about 2.75 million software developers in the national workforce. By 2018, this count will reach 5.2 million, a whopping 90% increase. India’s software development growth-rate is attributed to half the population being under 25 years of age and current economic policies. India is a budding hub of developers and coders, promising to provide world-class services to outsourcing companies. Apple Inc., the leading technology giant, is looking into setting up a company-owned, technology development centre in India. If this happens,...
PHP open source and ASP.NET have been major contributors to web development for many years now and continue to be used for their flexibility and other strengths in the programming arena. In our experience as knowledgeable website development agency, we are often asked by clients whether we feel they should move forward with an ASP.NET or a PHP based solution for their project. ASP.NET was designed as an enterprise wide solution platform In response to this question there are a few points that we like to make clear to clients who ask for our opinion. But before we get started in our exploration of these two powerful platforms, it’s important to understand that PHP was originally built as a platform for building Personal Home Pages. PHP was designed to be a web language, more than an enterprise wide solution platform. ASP.NET was designed as a platform for enterprise wide solutions and therefore was built for scalability and to be robust. One is open source and the other is from Microsoft First of all we mention the fact that ASP.NET is produced by Microsoft and PHP is an open source product. Quite often the client hasn’t got a lot to say about that. After all, it’s not really as important as what the difference are between them when it comes to areas such as: Security Features Whether it’s possible to extend Average development time Frameworks Cost PHP is available as an open source product and therefore does not come with the background support that ASP.NET is provided with. The latter not only has Microsoft user support available with it, but...
