#######################
CodeIgniter at a Glance
#######################

CodeIgniter is an Application Framework
=======================================

CodeIgniter is a toolkit for people who build web applications using
PHP. Its goal is to enable you to develop projects much faster than you
could if you were writing code from scratch, by providing a rich set of
libraries for commonly needed tasks, as well as a simple interface and
logical structure to access these libraries. CodeIgniter lets you
creatively focus on your project by minimizing the amount of code needed
for a given task.

CodeIgniter is Free
===================

CodeIgniter is licensed under an Apache/BSD-style open source license so
you can use it however you please. For more information please read the
:doc:`license agreement <../license>`.

CodeIgniter is Light Weight
===========================

Truly light weight. The core system requires only a few very small
libraries. This is in stark contrast to many frameworks that require
significantly more resources. Additional libraries are loaded
dynamically upon request, based on your needs for a given process, so
the base system is very lean and quite fast.

CodeIgniter is Fast
===================

Really fast. We challenge you to find a framework that has better
performance than CodeIgniter.

CodeIgniter Uses M-V-C
======================

CodeIgniter uses the Model-View-Controller approach, which allows great
separation between logic and presentation. This is particularly good for
projects in which designers are working with your template files, as the
code these files contain will be minimized. We describe MVC in more
detail on its own page.

CodeIgniter Generates Clean URLs
================================

The URLs generated by CodeIgniter are clean and search-engine friendly.
Rather than using the standard "query string" approach to URLs that is
synonymous with dynamic systems, CodeIgniter uses a segment-based
approach::

	example.com/news/article/345

Note: By default the index.php file is included in the URL but it can be
removed using a simple .htaccess file.

CodeIgniter Packs a Punch
=========================

CodeIgniter comes with full-range of libraries that enable the most
commonly needed web development tasks, like accessing a database,
sending email, validating form data, maintaining sessions, manipulating
images, working with XML-RPC data and much more.

CodeIgniter is Extensible
=========================

The system can be easily extended through the use of your own libraries,
helpers, or through class extensions or system hooks.

CodeIgniter Does Not Require a Template Engine
==============================================

Although CodeIgniter *does* come with a simple template parser that can
be optionally used, it does not force you to use one. Template engines
simply can not match the performance of native PHP, and the syntax that
must be learned to use a template engine is usually only marginally
easier than learning the basics of PHP. Consider this block of PHP code::

	<ul>
	<?php foreach ($addressbook as $name):?>
		<li><?=$name?></li>
	<?php endforeach; ?>
	</ul>

Contrast this with the pseudo-code used by a template engine::

	<ul>
	{foreach from=$addressbook item="name"}
		<li>{$name}</li>
	{/foreach}
	</ul>

Yes, the template engine example is a bit cleaner, but it comes at the
price of performance, as the pseudo-code must be converted back into PHP
to run. Since one of our goals is *maximum performance*, we opted to not
require the use of a template engine.

CodeIgniter is Thoroughly Documented
====================================

Programmers love to code and hate to write documentation. We're no
different, of course, but since documentation is **as important** as the
code itself, we are committed to doing it. Our source code is extremely
clean and well commented as well.

CodeIgniter has a Friendly Community of Users
=============================================

Our growing community of users can be seen actively participating in our
`Community Forums <http://ellislab.com/forums/>`_.
