3.0: the evolution of a PHP framework

If anything were to have marked 2014 for CakePHP we’d probably all agree it was 3.0, the latest major version of the framework in it’s 10 year lifetime. After a series of successful developer previews and several beta releases, we’re now in position to freeze the API inline for a final stable version, just after community review of the release candidates.

It’s been a long way to get where we are right now, but the direction taken has advanced the framework, and brought it inline with what developers have been asking for. There have been some significant changes and great new additions, as well as some important decisions, but we truly feel this best represents the community’s expectations as a whole, and prepares us for the next generation of CakePHP applications.

So far, this year has seen 30+ releases, including versions 2.5 and 2.6 of the framework, and over 120 releases to date. This was made possible by some 290 contributors to the project, and that doesn’t even count the more than 360 contributors to the documentation. Above all, CakePHP continues to be ranked in the top 5 most popular PHP frameworks on GitHub by developers.

The project has also begun to increase it’s modularity even further by splitting the core framework into modules (or packages), which allow aspects of CakePHP to be remixed with other projects. This hasn’t stopped people from being inspired by the framework in the past, even Doctrine gave us a hat tip with their Inflector class. All in all, this just shows how committed we really are about contributing back to the Open Source community as a whole, while allowing developers to use the best of CakePHP where they see fit.

The community effect

On the social side of things we now have over 15,000 likes on Facebook as well as some 12,000 followers on Twitter. There were also various book released this year, accompanied by the launch of both the official podcast and certification platform by the Cake Software Foundation.

We saw some great talks and presentations on CakePHP, numerous interviews and podcasts, lots of blog posts and many tutorials, developers giving their own personal experiences with the project, as well as a community curated list of awesomeness and some stunning displays of contribution growth and developer dedication. We’ve also witnessed the community grow in terms of developer organized meetups, with events now taking place in locations such as the Netherlands, France, Germany, Ahmedabad, Tokyo and New York.

A conference to remember

On the topic of events, CakeFest 2014, the annual CakePHP conference, was held this year in Madrid, Spain. The event, covering 4 days of workshops and conference, left us with lots of memorable moments. It also had some really amazing reviews as well as some awesome feedback from the community.

It was by far one of our biggest turn-outs ever, with an incredible line-up of high profile speakers, and an awesome array of sponsors, including CakeDC, Microsoft Azure, GitHub, Rackspace, O’Reilly, JetBrains, Packt Publishing, NuSphere, Loadsys, SANIsoft, ZenServ, Broadband Finder and Intersective.

The slides for the community keynote are available, or you can listen to it on an episode of the CakePHP podcast. More talks and slides from the conference days can also be found here, or check out images from the event. And finally, a big shout-out to everyone who joined us for 2014, we hope to see you all again next year for another incredible gathering of the CakePHP community!

Drawing to a close

Looking back, this year has been a remarkable year for us. Without a doubt, and after 10 long years, CakePHP still remains a very popular framework for PHP development. It’s the direct result of a community working together!

If you’ve contributed to the project, in any manner, shape or form, then feel proud that you’ve played a part in this awesome social experiment we call Open Source. Words aren’t enough to express our gratitude, so all we can say is… Thank You.