on 17 April 2014 by in
Earlier this week, we put the final touches on the “micro/macro” frameworks for v2 web projects and v2 command line projects. Although these had been delayed a bit while working out the Aura.Di v2 beta release, they both now have their first “Google beta” releases!
We have spoken before of Aura.Web_Project as a “micro/macro” framework. The idea is that it starts as a very minimal system, with only router, dispatcher, request, and response functionality. But thanks to the Composer-assisted configuration system, it’s very easy to add whatever functionality you want, making the project as large or as small as you need. Installation is as easy as issuing composer create-project -s beta aura/web-project.
Aura.Cli_Project takes exactly the same approach, but for command-line applications. It consists of a “context” and standard I/O system (the equivalents of a request and response), along with a console and dispatcher. It uses the same configuration system as Web_Project, so you start with a very minimal system that grows only as you need it. Getting started is as just as easy: composer create-project -s beta aura/cli-project.
Finally, we have Aura.Framework_Project; it is a combination of both Web_Project and Cli_Project. That one installs just like the others:
composer create-project -s beta aura/framework-project. The goal on the Framework_Project more extensive than with the other two; while they are more micro to begin with, the Framework_Project will eventually become more of a full-stack system.
N.b.: Unlike Aura library packages, which are fully decoupled and independent from all other packages, the
*_Kerneland*_Projectpackages do have dependencies. This is because their purpose is to combine other packages together.
Each project is little more than a skeleton around a core “kernel” package. The Aura.Web_Kernel is what actually provides the glue to connect the underlying library packages together, as does the Aura.Cli_Kernel.
Keeping the kernel separate from the project means we can update the kernel without having to re-install a project. The separation between kernel and project also makes it possible to combine or stack the kernel packages. For example, the web and CLI kernel packages depend on a the same underlying Project_Kernel to handle the common task of configuration and setup. Similarly, the Framework_Project uses both the web and CLI kernel packages together.
If you are the kind of developer who wants to keep dependencies to a minimum, but still wants a little bit of architecture to start with, then Aura fits the bill. Download individual library packages with no dependencies, or install a minimal project package and add only what you need. Try it out today!
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