Future of CodeIgniter?

[eluser]Michael Wales[/eluser]
Firstly, let me say: I have no advance knowledge of EE2 - I know just as much as you guys.
Edit: This post got really long, skip to the bottom for the "bottom line" text.

In the beginning Rick created the Expression and the Engine.

Now ExpressionEngine was powerful and brought new ideas to the CMS field, and people were using ExpressionEngine as a framework creating amazing web applications centered around content.

And Rick said, "Let there be CodeIgniter," and there was CodeIgniter. Rick saw that the CodeIgniter was good, and he separated the CMS from the framework. Rick called the CMS "ExpressionEngine," and the framework "CodeIgniter."

But, really - pMachine was EllisLab's first product, blogging software. In 2004, EllisLab's replaced pMachine with an amazing CMS called ExpressionEngine that had much cleaner code, was modularly designed, and a bucket full of features. Since it's release, EE has been known for stretching the boundaries of what can be developed with a CMS. Really, it's not your Mullenweg's Wordpress - I'd be willing to say 70% of my client's websites could have been developed in EE and it would have saved them about $600 each time.

So, Rick and team see that people are taking EE and essentially using it as a framework and making some pretty cool stuff with it. So, Rick's like, "Yo dudes - let's clean up the core of EE. The meat and potatoes that really makes it work. And release that bad boy for free." And everyone else was like, "OMG - yes!"

So, CodeIgniter was released and as we all know, it's the best thing to grace our careers. Now, ExpressionEngine and CodeIgniter have been following these two separate tracks since day 1. The tracks are parallel to one another - but still, separate tracks. If EE gets some crazy-insane new method that sticks cooks up Mozzarella sticks for you, use CodeIgniters are going to have to wait a little bit before we see it. The dev team has done an excellent job of sharing with the CI community but it's a bit of manual labor on their part and let's be honest, CI isn't paying any bills.

So, earlier this year (or probably last) Rick was like, "Yo dudes - that framework we pulled out of EE... let's build the next version of EE on top of it." And everyone was like, "OMG - yes!"

So, now, we get a full-stack content management system that is pwntastic built on top of our pretty little framework here. When EE needs a new class that could benefit the rest of the world, or when a security issue gets patched - all of this is going into the CI core. Guess how easy that is to get into the SVN and the next release... seamless! Rather than having two separate products, on two separate tracks, we now have those two products on the same track.


Bottom Line: ExpressionEngine, the lifeblood of EllisLab's, will directly rely upon the innovation and hard-word the CodeIgniter community puts in every single day. Our community, and for us freelancers - potential client-base, has grown significantly with this announcement.

As the amazing people here spot bugs, send in bug reports, ask the easy question (and answer the tough question) of "why?" we will see CodeIgniter greatly improve. Personally, I think the tempo of changes (if you're an SVN person) and new releases will speed up considerably.