Why are we using the Laravel Framework

At the first SDPHP Hackathon, we discussed as a group the initial layout of the project. It was decided that a framework would give us the best "starting point" and since we had one VERY strong programmer that uses Laravel, the rest of the people contributing at that time decided this was a framework they wanted the opportunity to learn and it is also a framework that continues to be highly recommended to the group from several resources.

Why not use Zend Framework?

While Zend is a very popular framework, they will be the first to tell you it's a very difficult one to use. We had Ralph Schindler from Zend do a presentation last month and said that unless you are part of a large enterprise team, this may not be the framework for you.

Why not use CakePHP?

Because @shocm likes CakePHP and we like to irritate him whenever we can.

Why not use a framework at all?

We discussed not using a framework at all. That is how a lot of us currently code. In the end, we decided on for the group as a whole a framework would help with things like structure, naming conventions, and code management.