Choosing a simple web application framework [closed]

Answer 1

The usual suspects are django and rails, of course. They are not "small" by any definition.

I recommend webpy, it is simple, small and stays out of the way. I think reddit ran on it for a while as it is the brain child of Aaron Swartz.

Answer 2

Let me suggest something really out of the zone here: build an ISAPI dll (or the Apache equivalent if that is your preference) from bare-metal C/C++ or even Delphi. Why? If you have the time to do this you will learn an IMMENSE amount about the underlying architecture of web applications and it will open up an entirely new perspective on all of the frameworks that everyone is suggesting here.

I did this in Delphi back in 2000 and it was a tremendous learning experience. Of course, this is predicated on the notion that you don't need to build anything quickly and that the primary purpose of the project is to learn about web development. But, if that is your objective, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better approach.

Answer 3

You may want to step back and really consider which language you enjoy coding in the most, regardless of your level of expertise in each. That will definitely narrow down your choices. I think it's kind of hard to choose a framework without choosing a language first. For instance, what if you end up doing your project in ASP.NET MVC, and find yourself not even liking C#/.NET too much to begin with.

Also ask yourself why you need a framework, or how a framework would help you with your hobby project. (Unless the hobby project is just for the sake of learning a framework.)

Answer 4

If it's just a personal hobby thing, I would recommend either going with .Net MVC, Rails or Zend (there may be some good Java frameworks out there but I'm not familiar with them).

I'm guessing that since it's a hobby project, you're not going to want to spend a lot of time looking around the web for examples on how to do things with the framework or looking for tutorials on how to set it all up. You probably want to be able to play with a bunch of cool features right off the bat without things breaking or dealing with a bunch of bugs. That being said, I think .Net MVC and or Rails will allow you to have the most fun with the least amount of headache. With a lot of the other Open Source frameworks out there you're going to have to jump through a lot of hoops right from the start that you would rather not have to deal with, and a lot of the time documentation for getting through the initial setup problems is hard to find.

Answer 5

I am doing my personal project in http://www.asp.net/mvc/. The first time I did it I just slapped out a working site by fussing around with the code. Now I am re-writing it to try to "code better" and learn new design principles.

I also have used codeigniter at work, and while I like it, it is php and you didn't mention that as a choice of languages.