I've been looking at the just released Zend Framework for PHP this evening. I'd been following its development since last year and was anxiously awaiting its arrival. I think this framework provides some good tools that PHP lacks; people who've built several web applications find themselves reinventing pieces of the wheel each time. Specifically, I'm always writing: Cheap Database Abstraction, Model/View separation, and Email sending. It's also great to see things that previously required more domain knowledge such as RSS generation, Web service usage, and Search building integrated into the framework at the fingertips of the user.

I'm a bit disappointed that there's less support for things like implementing REST services and the relatively weak templating. I suppose that Smarty has already solved this problem, but I look forward to some better integration in the future. I'm sure I'll end up writing this, but maybe someone will beat me to releasing it.

I doubt we'll use much of this at work, but I know it's a step in the right direction for keeping PHP competitive with some of the Ruby nonsense.