[Osiris]

Frameworks are also very useful. They can provide a tested database layer that prevents SQL injection, form data validation and escaping, straight-forward MVC structure, and a library of common functions that are well tested and help developers avoid common mistakes.

Ideally, a framework would have some basic elements and then additional components that can be included if required by a project but aren't core to the framework.

[jonascopenhagen]

Sure - but if you compare, say, Zend with Laravel, you'll see that the former is hugely complex compared to the latter - and what I'm saying is that the complexity doesn't seem to make the code more maintainable later on - possibly quite the opposite.