Does Phalcon have any restrictions compared to another pure PHP framework?

Question

Since Phalcon is a C extension, is it able to do everything that you can normally do in PHP?

Does it have any restrictions due to the way it complies?

Can Phalcon do the following just as you would when coding in normal PHP (either in raw PHP or in Phalcon's own way):

• Sending files via FTP (http://php.net/manual/en/book.ftp.php)
• Parse IPTC data (http://php.net/manual/en/function.iptcparse.php)
• Send HTML email (http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php)

Answer 1

With Phalcon you are still writing your code in PHP, using normal PHP. To you, the "user", there's no real difference between "using" Phalcon or any other PHP framework. The only difference is that all the classes and functions of other PHP frameworks are written in PHP code, while Phalcon classes and functions are implemented in C behind the scenes. They still act like regular PHP classes though, just like all the other classes and functions that are built into PHP. E.g., DateTime is also implemented in C, yet you have never needed to worry about that.

Your PHP code is still regular PHP code that can do all the things PHP does.