PEAR

The PHP Extension and Application Repository (PEAR) was founded in 1999 to promote the re-use of code that is used to perform commonly used functions. The ultimate goal was to create a library of code that was structured in such a way as to encourage standardized use of code. Each package of PEAR code has its own development team and documentation behind it.

PEAR was based on a solid idea: create a repository for PHP extensions and library code. Define standards that help developers write code in a way that is portable and reusable. Its PHP library code is often regarded as one of the cleaner and better designed PHP libraries out there.

The code available in PEAR targets web applications, and helps developers get a faster start on their development projects. Though PEAR does not have the amount of documentation as comparable entities, the development community behind it is continually growing.