What is CodeIgniter?
CodeIgniter is an open source framework for creating full-featured PHP-based web sites and applications. It is based on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture and is compatible with standard shared hosting accounts, various PHP versions (including PHP4 and PHP5) and configurations. Plus, you don't have to use a command line. URLs are mapped to a particular function within a controller by means of routing. CodeIgniter also supports scaffolding which represents an automated way of generating views based on the models. Although scaffolding is designed for simple prototyping, CodeIgniter takes it a step further by requiring a keyword in the URL in order to access it at all. This modern MVC framework renders the creating of PHP applications much easier. A large portion of the work, such as loading libraries, getting data from the model, rendering the view, etc., is done inside the controller. CodeIgniter provides classes for FTP, email, file uploading, XMLRPC, zip encoding. You are not required to give names to you database tables or to name your models after your tables.