Symfony — a PHP framework for powerful web solutions

Choosing a technical stack for product development is one thing, but speeding up the process with the output of a reliable and scalable medical solution is quite another. How about combining a quick time to market while keeping the quality and safety in the loop? 

Frameworks are one of the most preferred ways to produce a customized product without having to code from scratch. You can have a feature-rich application in a short time, which is a great advantage for your business in the crazy-demanding market. And, of course, let's not forget the discerning, technically-savvy users who, along with convenience, need secure and reliable health-related products.

Today we will look at Symfony as one of the most powerful PHP frameworks for web solution design. Let's dive right into it and find out more about what Symfony is, what its benefits are, and which giant companies have already successfully leveraged it in their projects.

Before we delve into Symfony's characteristics, it is important to note one of the most fundamental aspects of this instrument. It is more than just a framework: it is a set of reusable PHP components along with its philosophy and a well-established community. The latter has contributed a lot to making it one of the most powerful bug-free frameworks since its first launch in 2005. After all, it is not for naught that the framework has such a catchy name as "Symfony". 

By using this technology, developers can create a solution in which all of its parts interact seamlessly with each other, ultimately contributing to the smooth operation of the final product.

The widespread adoption of the technology among SMEs is primarily due to the mainstream of the PHP programming language, which is the backbone of the framework. It is mainly used for web-based product creation. Thus, PHP was considered the most trendy programming language software worldwide in 2021, with a market share of 45.43%, according to Statista [1].

Symfony is often compared to Laravel, another powerful PHP framework. However, while Symfony is both an app framework and a set of reusable components, Laravel is simply a framework. Moreover, Laravel uses quite a few Symfony components. Although Laravel is more favored by developers [2], Symfony has its tricks, making it especially attractive for engineering tailor-made complex websites and scalable web apps.

Symfony is an open-source PHP-driven framework that is mainly renowned for its ability to reduce the likelihood of errors, increase product performance and, of course, provide easy access to a multitude of reusable PHP components and libraries. This, in turn, gives developers ample opportunities to adjust the code to their needs and add single-handedly modules that can make your product stand out.

It is believed that the framework is most frequently used for healthcare and e-commerce solutions [3]. In the medical industry, it is valued for creating a robust and stable technical foundation. At the same time, Symfony can speed up the process of e-commerce platform development, provide seamless integration with social media channels and allow the implementation of different payment gateways.

But the use of the framework is not limited to medicine and e-commerce. Since its creation, various companies from diverse fields have decided to rely on Symfony: Statista, Typeform, Slack, Trivago, Dailymotion, and the list goes on [4]. 

This list also includes the world's leading companies:

The company leverages Symfony to extend the functionality of the existing solutions. For example, Facebook Ads API and the Instant Articles SDK were created out of Symfony components.

Spotify uses the technology to manage user accounts. By the way, the music service reported 422 million active users worldwide in 2022, according to Statista [5]. Therefore, Spotify is highly dependent on the framework in handling such a huge number of accounts, which continues to grow.

The company uses Symfony for both frontend and backend, which indicates the versatile and full-stack nature of the technology.

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural model is not unique to Symfony (React and AngularJS use the same pattern), but its adoption in software engineering provides some advantages.

Using this architectural model when developing a project allows developers to divide it into three main parts:

- Model (responsible for the database and all processes related to it)

- View (the visual part of the application that a user can see)

- Controller (the connector of these two parts, responsible for the data exchange).

Such a design allows specialists to perform this in a more structured, logical, and simplified way. For example, it is much easier to manage a solution using the "compartmentalization" approach since its logical parts are separated — a change in one of them does not require a change in the other. Simply put, developers can divide a large-scale solution into parts and deploy, test, and keep each of them separately. Moreover, the division of the external visual part (View) and the internal part (Model) lets developers make changes to the interface more effortlessly and less costly.

The comprehensive toolset offered by the framework includes built-in testing instruments. Programmers have access to a debug panel that displays data on product performance, making it easier and faster to troubleshoot bugs. In addition, the available functional testing allows you to meticulously check the operation of each system part, diminishing its further dysfunctionality.

When talking about the underlying functionality of Symfony, it's impossible not to mention its Bundles and Components, which give the framework a lot of flexibility.

Bundles (you can think of them as plugins) are there to enrich the product with additional features, the main advantage of which is their decoupled nature. Therefore, it is possible to reconfigure and reuse them for other solutions, saving time and money. Meanwhile, components (Symfony has 30 useful components) provide common features that make developers' work much easier. You can use them independently or add your modules without breaking the architecture of the solution. By the way, these components can be used in other frameworks such as Laravel, for example.

What do you get with this tech specialty? The availability and use of bundles and components can diminish dependencies in the product architecture. This helps you change parts of the system without breaking its integrity. Therefore, you have more flexibility in adjusting the system to the needs of your business.

Because bundles and components are composite, they can be "merged" and turned into synergy, which leads to the next advantage.

The functionality provided by the framework, or, more precisely, all the potential applications, can lead to a state-of-the-art medical solution tailored to the customers’ needs.

Despite the steep learning curve that is often an obstacle for developers due to its time-consuming nature, the Symfony-based development process is not that hard. In addition, a large community of developers and the forums that have evolved over the years are full of answers to questions that “Symfony newcomers” may have. 

Taking all the features offered by the technology, we can highlight the following benefits that could be crucial for you to decide on a suitable framework:

What to say in conclusion... Considering its modular architecture, Symfony can be a worthy option for creating an extensible web solution. On the other hand, its components and bundles enable you to build products of any size and complexity. Over the years, Symfony has become one of the most valuable and proven PHP tools for delivering feature-enhanced solutions. 

Choosing a technology, however, is only half the battle. The team is, of course, the equally important foundation for the success of a project. Having been in the digital medical market for 7+ years, developing robust solutions for this complicated industry has been the foundation of expertise for our team. Feel free to contact us, and together, with the right team and tools on board, we can accelerate the development of digital medicine.

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