CodeIgniter Version

Introduction to CodeIgniter Version

CodeIgnitor Version one was made public in Feb 2006 by EllisLab, it was a slightly restructured version of their then leading Content management tool “Expression Engine” after removing specific code pertaining to the original product; the Second version known as the legacy version was released in Jan 2011 with bugs of the earlier version fixed; with CodeIgniter looking for external support for resources/ technology, British Columbia institute of Technology chipped in and they were responsible for the release of version 3 which addressed security issues and brought in sophistication in the product in Mar 2015 and it is the current version; Version 4 is the beta version or the future version, was released in Feb 2020 and it is still evolving.

Brief on CodeIgniter

It is easy to install and a simple to use a PHP framework that accelerates Web development in a faster mode. It contains libraries, functions, interfaces, helpers, plugins that address the complex issues in PHP and help to build Web applications with blazing speed performance. It uses a model view controller that separates Presentation, business logic, data. It has a small footprint, easy to learn features with adequate document support.

Top 4 Versions of CodeIgniter

Versions of codeigniter are given below

Version – 1

• The first version of CodeIgnitor was an improvised version of the flagship tool of EllisLab and though the market was filled with several PHP products, at that time this version had a good following from niche users.
• The first Beta version 1.0 was released in Feb 2006 and it was improved with the release of 1.1 by fixing the bugs and adding new features like Calendaring, link to the next pages, and updated documents.
• Versions 1.2,1.3 with sub-releases 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3 in Mar-Jun 2006 time period fixed many bugs and added new features in the database connectivity, session handling, helpers, and global functions.
• Versions 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 with many sub revisions for each of the versions were released during Sep-2006 to Sep-2009 period. There were several changes in the database access methods, helpers, Libraries, and interfaces.

Version – 2

Version 2.0 was released in Jan 2011 and it had significant changes and impressive features over bland version 1.0. The main features of this version are

• This version fills the gap in the support to PHP higher versions.
• Application Directory structure made as an external directory by default though users can change it manually
• Plugin was withdrawn totally and helpers and hooks will compensate for those functions. Users will not have too many options and it is made simple for them.
• Simple Override rules to manage multiple applications in a single installation
• Caching is supported
• Offers two development environments. The first One is the Core provided by EllisLab and the other one is Reactor updated by the community

It had sub releases 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3 for the base version 2.0 till Aug-2011

Version 2.1 was released in Nov-2011 and sub revisions in 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4 till Jul 2013.

Version 2.2 was released in Jun 2014 and sub revisions in 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4 till Jul-2015

Version – 3

EllisLab was looking for outside support for Resources and Technology and the British Columbia Institute of Technology offered the support and version 3.0 was released by them in Mar-2015. Version 3 focussed more on Security, Third Party Integrations, and Performance.

Security: Hackers could sneak into the earlier version of CodeIgnitor through a loophole in Xss_clean routine and inject malicious code and it was a major issue in version 2. The new version plugged the gap and Xss_clean is not compromised and injection of malicious is prevented by strengthening Xss_clean codes.

Third Party Integrations: Today’s IT landscape warrants integrating Organisation’s websites with multiple third-party applications such as Mail, Social media, CRM, DMS, ERP to feed live data to the users. This may involve Web services, API, XML, JSON, and direct SQL. CodeIgnitor supports all such integration through its latest development in this version Upgrades in the configurations and a new set of libraries added manages these Integrations.

Performance: Any Website will have to manage any increase of user load and provide a response to the user’s query at an acceptable performance level. Database access plays important role in improving the performance level and the queries that trigger the fetching of records need to be optimized. The performance in this version is improved by using Cache memory, fixing the issues in the earlier version in the query builder programs, and fine-tuning other Database queries.

Others

• It supports a higher version of PHP
• Improved coding practices

Releases: Base version 3.0 was released in Mar 2015 and sub revisions 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, 3.0.5, 3.0.6 till Mar 2016. Version 3.1.0 was released in Jul 2016 and sub revisions 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.1,6, 3.1.7, 3.1.8, 3.1.9, 3.1.10, 3.1.11 till Sep 2019

Version – 4

It was around 5 years between Version 3 and Version 4 releases. PHP had 8 releases in between and there was every possibility of CodeIgnitor pushed into the obsolete category. But CodeIgniter brought about drastic upgrades in the new version and maintain the flagship position in the PHP framework.

Highlights of this version are

• It supports higher PHP versions
• Organized directory in a better way by creating five separate directory structures.
• It supports namespaces
• It follows autoload method for loading files whereas in the earlier version the files will have to manually assemble
• Entities are used in this version in structuring the information. It is an in-built functionality whereas in the earlier version it was done using third-party software.
• The performance level is superior
• Easy configurations, monolithic libraries, support to the environment file extension, and easy migrations from its earlier versions are the other highlights

Releases: Base version 4.0 was released in Feb 2020 and it had subversions 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.3, 4.0.4, and 4.0.5 till Feb 2021. The next version 4.1 was released in Feb 2021 and it has sub releases 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3 till Jun 2021

Conclusion – CodeIgniter Version

Though CodeIgniter took time in releasing the new versions to keep pace with PHP, its features have attracted a good following among web developers and it is still a preferred web development tool over other tools.

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