Differences between symfony 2 and 1?

Question

I'm starting symfony and interested in learning where symfony is coming from. In terms of it's architectural challenges.

What are the architectural or philosophical differences between symfony 2 and 1?

What changes make it so different from the other point version?

Answer 1

The relevant cookbook entry explains the main differences.

Not an expert, but here are some points:

• Symfony2 takes advantage of the latest features of PHP(namespaces etc).
• It's built from stand-alone components. The decoupled nature of it makes it easier to integrate it with other systems.
• The bundle system. In Sf1 there were apps, like backend app, frontend app, and plugins. In Sf2, its advised to build application with bundles, with each bundle doing a different job. This allows to you separate your application in different bundles, so it's easier to reuse them in other projects.

Answer 2

There is a cookbook entry explaining the differences in depth.

One of the most important differences is code organisation. The bundles (which replace and enhance the idea of Sy1 plugins) are an excellent way of sharing code between modules / applications, helping you to create one strong backend and multiple frontends of your system. Even the public assets are now bundle-dependent, and not application-dependent.

The latest Sy2 comes with a great dependency management, Composer. It is the most intuitive way of reusing code from other sources and focusing solely on the development of your specific application logic / backend.