Agree with you 100% up until Yii. (Yii::app() ALL THE THINGS!!!) While it might be better than other frameworks, Yii is still a framework with all the failing

Agree with you 100% up until Yii. (Yii::app() ALL THE THINGS!!!) While it might be better than other frameworks, Yii is still a framework with all the failings. They get you to 80% REALLY fast and then you lose all those gains and then some trying to make the framework do that last 20% that you need. Usually you find yourself working for the framework instead of it working for you all the while thinking, "I could do this by hand faster."