Every business has a web application, it seems. If your company is lagging, or you want to update what you have, you may feel stuck. Dynamic web applications require a powerful back-end and an intuitive front-end.
PHP is the language of choice for data-heavy, quick-running apps. Hand-coding PHP is tedious and provides too many opportunities to introduce errors.
Using a framework is the answer to this problem, but which one?
Laravel is a step up from many PHP frameworks available today. The intuitive design makes Laravel easy to pick up and use. An online Laravel framework tutorial is enough to get you started but to really create, you may want to bring in the pros.
Ready to get started?
Table of contents
Understanding PHP
Using PHP allows you to program dynamic web applications that use a database. As you can imagine, this makes up a huge amount of the web applications currently in use. PHP is one of the most popular programming languages, and nearly 80 percent of websites use the language.
One of the reasons PHP is so popular is due to its flexibility. Developers have a wide range of choices in deciding how to create their application, and PHP supports many databases.
Building complex web applications that are responsive to the user and pull from a database would be a monumental task if the coding were in bare PHP. To make the building process a less demanding and more intuitive process, PHP frameworks were developed. These frameworks are template libraries that speed up the programming process.
Related: Laravel Pagination Example
PHP Frameworks
PHP frameworks make quick work of creating web applications. The libraries built into the framework allow the developer to forgo much of the repetitive processes that are part of building an app.
Frameworks are also easy to customize. While the developer can use some or all of the code from a library, they can also write their own code, making the design process as hands-on as needed.
Even experienced web developers benefit from libraries. In addition to reducing the repetitive tasks needed to create an application, these libraries follow best practices. Testing ensures they are reliable and error-free.
When using a PHP library, you can be confident that the code will work. While testing is part of the building process, using established libraries cuts down on errors and helps ensure you are using architecturally-sound code.
Finally, building with PHP libraries ensures that once you hand off a project, your code is easy to read and understand for other developers when it is time to update or add features to the application.
What To Look For in a Framework
There are several different PHP frameworks to choose from. How to choose the one that is best for your project?
MVC Structuring
Model-View-Control is a frequently used and established design pattern. Using MVC to build your app saves time as you won’t need to create the architecture. It also ensures that your project design makes sense.
Laravel modules add another step of organization, ensuring that your code is consistent and easy to manage. You aren't limited when creating them, you can add CSS and javascript to the modules.
The Testing Features Available on the Framework You Choose
Using established libraries makes the building process more error-proof, but testing throughout the design process is still important. Automated testing saves time and allows you to avoid the mind-numbing process of debugging your code.
Perhaps the Most Important Feature in a PHP Framework Is Its Libraries
A framework with an extensive choice of libraries cuts down on the amount of time you spend coding. If you have a specific project in mind that doesn’t have much complexity, a framework with more limited libraries may be fine, however, greater access provides greater flexibility.
Related: How to Use Laravel Together With Corcel
What Is the Laravel Framework?
An open-source framework designed to build PHP web applications, Laravel follows the model-view-controller, or MVC, architectural pattern. This cuts down on the amount of time needed to create a web application, eliminating much of the repetitive work of building web apps.
Laravel is designed to make it easy to create the web application you want without the need to create your code from scratch.
If you are familiar with other frameworks, such as Ruby on Rails, you may recognize some similarities. Having existing knowledge of any PHP framework will make the transition to Laravel much easier.
Comparing Laravel and CMS like WordPress highlight the strengths of Laravel. Building your application on Laravel provides stability and security while allowing endless ways to customize.
Once you get in front of the keyboard, you will notice that Laravel is designed for easy, intuitive creation. The goal of this framework is to speed the app development process. Simplicity and accessibility make it hard to beat Laravel if you are looking for a functional, stable framework.
Laravel Framework Tutorial
The Laravel framework is designed to get you up and running quickly. Use Composer to download the Laravel installer. The command “laravel new” gives you a new installation, and you are ready to go.
Wondering how to install Laravel on Windows? As long as you have Docker Desktop, you are good to go.
An online Laravel tutorial will get you started. Use the official documentation to familiarize yourself with the syntax.
11 Pros of Using Laravel
Laravel isn't the only PHP framework. CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Yii, and Symfony are some of the other choices. When compared to other frameworks, Laravel stands out in several specific ways.
Laravel Allows the User To Easily Utilize the Latest PHP Features
Probably the greatest of the benefits of Laravel and the reason why Laravel is so popular is the ability to use the latest developments in a lightweight framework.
If you are interested in overloading, interfaces, namespaces, anonymous functions, and a shorter array syntax, PHP Laravel is the choice for you.
Easy To Use Documentation
Documentation is the heart of development, and Laravel’s documentation makes it easy to find the information you need on methods, style, classes, and coding.
Documentation makes it easy to answer any questions you may have, but you have another tool available as well. The online Laravel community is large and generous. Finding some help when you are stumped is only a click away.
Easy To Use Command-Line Tool
Repetitive programming tasks take up time and increase the odds of introducing errors to your code. Artisan is a Laravel command-line tool that makes creating skeleton code and running the database as painless as possible.
Mail Service Integration
It is hard to think of a recent web application that doesn’t use mail services to promote offers and updates to its users. Laravel’s use of API makes it easy to stay in touch. Web apps developed using Laravel can send emails through both cloud-based and local services.
Laravel Is Fast
Laravel’s queue management system removes unnecessary tasks from the workflow. By running some tasks in the background, the user gets an immediate response to their request, improving their experience.
Makes Quick Work of Resource and Asset Revisioning
Laravel allows you to take advantage of packages such as bower and npm. The composer helps find dependencies. The combination adds stability to your web app.
Offers Popular Backend Cache Support
Memcached and Redis, two of the most used cache backends are supported out of the box with Laravel. The support of cache backends speeds up your app and improves the experience for your users.
Easy Updates
One feature that really sets Laravel apart is the ability to update links in seconds. Once the user creates a link, Laravel will insert the needed URL. To update or change the route later, the user only needs to change it once. Laravel will automatically update everywhere it is used.
Manage Inversion of Control
IoC allows you to generate objects without the need to bootstrap. Accessing these objects from your coding environment adds stability and flexibility.
Implementing ActiveRecord Is a Breeze
The MVC model you construct will have a matching database table. With this feature, changing a table automatically changes the related data. Laravel supports a variety of relationships here, including one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many, and more.
Authentication and Testing Is a Straightforward Process
Laravel’s authentication process works straight out of the box. A dedicated file for testing is already set up and PHP comes with Laravel. Testing capabilities also include the ability to troubleshoot common issues such as common user actions.
And if you run into trouble?
Laravel has integrated logging, allowing you to document and review exceptions and errors.
Laravel Is the Pro’s Choice
Now you know how it works, are you ready to get started? You need more than an online Laravel framework tutorial to build a killer app. Hire a Laravel developer to handle the building and get your web application up and running.
