THE PHP LARAVEL FRAMEWORK - BUILDING WEB APPLICATIONS FOR EVERYONE

Web application and website development has become easier and easier in recent years. Even the most
tech-averse have gotten quite handy with products like WordPress and Wix.

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For more advanced developers, there are a host of tools to help simplify the development process. One
of the most useful of those tools is Laravel.

This article answers the question "What is Laravel?" breaking down an overview of the fundamentals of
PHP frameworks used in web development. We will continue with an overview of Laravel features, a list
of important Laravel structures and components, and a description of some of Laravel's most useful
packages.

WHAT IS LARAVEL?

The answer to the question "What is Laravel?" It's simple:

Laravel is a multiplatform PHP framework for building web applications.

But really understanding the benefits of Laravel and its uses requires a deeper dive. Laravel allows a
developer to take advantage of a large library of pre-programmed functionality (such as authentication,
routing, and HTML templates). Access to this library simplifies building robust web applications quickly
and minimizes the amount of coding required.
Laravel offers a highly functional development environment, as well as intuitive and expressive command
line interfaces. Additionally, Laravel uses object-relational mapping (ORM) to simplify data access and
manipulation.

Laravel applications are highly scalable and have easy to maintain code bases. Developers can also add
functionality to their applications seamlessly, thanks to Laravel's modular packaging system and robust
dependency management.

IS LARAVEL FRONTEND OR BACKEND?

Laravel is primarily a backend development framework, although it does offer some frontend
functionality. However, many of Laravel's features are frontend agnostic.

IS LARAVEL A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE?

Laravel is a PHP framework and uses a scripting language instead of being a strict PHP programming
language. Although scripting and programming languages are related, they have several notable
differences, mainly in ease of use and speed of execution.

Scripting languages are platform-specific interpreted languages. In contrast, programming languages are
compiled, platform-independent languages. Being platform specific, scripting languages depend on the
compiler of the application in which you are working.

Applications built with scripting languages are compiled at run time, which means that each statement is
individually interpreted at run time, making the application slower than a precompiled application.
Runtime compilation also causes the application to stop or close if it encounters a run-time error; In
contrast, pre-compiled applications perform error checking during compilation, which makes them more
robust at runtime. For many users, however, the disadvantages of scripting languages are more than
outweighed by their ease of use and iteration.

WHAT IS A PHP FRAMEWORK?

PHP (recursive acronym for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source server-side scripting language
widely used for web development. In early 2021, almost 80% of websites are using PHP. Although many
are not familiar with PHP, everyone knows one of the most popular PHP applications: WordPress.

A PHP framework provides a set of code libraries that contain pre-programmed modules that allow the
user to build applications more quickly. They offer web developers several benefits, such as faster
development, less need to write code, and increased security. They also help novice developers create
good coding practices as they require specific code organization. Also, PHP frameworks usually require
less maintenance than applications built from scratch.

WHY SHOULD YOU USE LARAVEL?

Having answered "What is Laravel?", The next question is: "Why Laravel?" Laravel provides a great set of
robust tools that help make the web application development process easier and faster, and the code
bases of the final applications are well structured and easily maintained.

Some of the specific benefits of Laravel are:

LARAVEL IS EASY TO LEARN

Laravel is relatively easy to learn if you have the right skills. Laravel requires a general understanding of
PHP and object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts for its effective use. Knowing at least some HTML
is also helpful. And for any MVC architecture, it is also useful to understand relational database
management systems, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.

LARAVEL HAS TOOLS FOR DEVELOPERS OF ALL LEVELS

Laravel describes itself as a progressive framework, which means that it includes a variety of
functionalities that users of all skill levels will find useful. For example, beginners have access to starter
kits for modules such as the basic authentication features. Many of these tools are discussed in more
detail below.

WHAT DOES LARAVEL DO?

Laravel's feature set is too extensive to be fully covered in this short roundup. Some of the most significant
features include:

Route Management

Laravel provides simple and intuitive route handling, using simple names to identify routes instead of long
route names. Using path identifiers also makes it easier to maintain your applications, as the path name
can be changed in one place rather than having to change it all. All web interface routes in a Laravel
application are recorded in the routes / web.php file.

Safety

Laravel includes a number of security features including user authentication, user role authorizations,
email verification, encryption services, password hashing, and password reset features.

Migration

Laravel provides version control for application databases through migrations. Migrations keep track of
how a database has been modified over time, making it easy to destroy or rebuild the database when
necessary.

Templates

Blade is Laravel's PHP templating engine. PHP template engines help break up the business logic of HTML
templates, resulting in a code base that is easier to maintain. Many of Laravel's functionalities depend on
the Blade templates. Blade offers more functionality than other templating engines because Blade allows
the use of plain PHP code, which others do not.

Sessions

Laravel uses sessions to store information about the user through various requests. Cookies are an
example of a session controller built into Laravel.
Data validation

Laravel makes it easy to validate incoming user data. Laravel includes a series of data validation rules, with
customizable error messages.

LARAVEL IN 2021

The current version of Laravel is version 8, initially released in September 2020. This version includes
several new features and improvements. Some of the new features in version 8 include Laravel Jetstream,
job batching (allows the execution of a batch of jobs, followed by the performance of defined actions),
Dynamic Blade components (allows the rendering of components at runtime based on a runtime value),
and the use of Tailwind CSS by default in the Laravel pager, among others. Improvements have also been
made to rate capping and maintenance mode.

Note that Laravel releases a new major version every year in September, with minor versions being
released as needed. Laravel version 9 is scheduled for September 2021.