After .NET, if there is a technology that has left its mark in a way that it is considered one of the most reliable technologies for website development is PHP!
Ever since its introduction to the world in 1995 – PHP has come a long way! And now this technology is powering many modern age websites serving different purposes. Talking about Laravel – it has gained immense popularity around the globe since its release in 2011!
Laravel is one of the most used and popular frameworks widely used! Now what makes it one of the best frameworks to choose from is – there are many reasons for it!
One of the biggest reasons why Laravel is one of the most chosen frameworks is its ability to develop applications faster than any other framework!
Yes, you read it Right! Laravel does come with built-in features that can be used directly to make the entire process of development faster as compared to any other technology.
But this is just a glimpse of the technology – the entire story is yet to be unfolded! Let’s get to know what makes Laravel an ideal framework for an application and why it is the Best Choice for Enterprise Application Development, along with the benefits of using it!
Benefits of Using Laravel
- Elegant Syntax & Expressive Code
- Laravel has beautiful syntax, and it offers quite good readability of the code and therefore it is easier to maintain.
- Laravel syntax on the other hand is welcomed to be easy to comprehend to any developer including those who are new in the framework.
- This readability saves the teams from constant effort of decoding the complex codes and hence improves the turnover rate of the application’s development cycles and reduces the possibility of bugs.
MVC Architecture
Laravel is based on Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture which divides an application into several parts – models, views, and controllers.
This separation enhances –
- Code organization and readability – Making it possible for developers to focus on the graphic user interface (view) and another developer to work on the application’s controlling layer (controller) and database model.
- Facilitates teamwork – It also helps the team to have specialized team members thus delegates can work on different aspects of the application at once.
- Ensures easier maintenance and scalability – Modifications of one area of the application, for instance the graphical user interface, do not impact on the other areas such as a business rule or query to a database.
Blade Templating Engine
- Blade, which is Laravel’s templating engine is very basic but adequate.
- Blade enables developers to write PHP codes directly in the view part and has some shortcuts for vivid operations, for example, loop or condition judgment.
- This makes it possible for one to design web pages that are interactive and capable of changing their layout depending on the user input and assertion, all this, without requiring the composition of numerous codes.
- Another feature of Blade is template inheritance, for the development of which a basis is created, and then many views are created based on it.
This creates code reuse and use of standard classes which saves time and resources when developing the application.
Eloquent ORM (Object – Relational Mapping)
Working with Laravel’s built-in Eloquent ORM too is very easy due to the expressive syntax provided. Eloquent models are derived from the database tables, and let the developers perform a myriad of database operations without having to use raw SQL statements.
This ORM de-clutters data related operations and makes it hassle-free to insert records, query them, modify or delete them.
Eloquent also allows different models to connect with each other and makes it easy for the developers to define and manage intricate data hierarchy.
Nevertheless, thanks to this feature, it is possible to achieve better performance in such applications that have a significant amount of data interactions, including e-commerce sites or CMS.
Comprehensive Documentation & Community Support
Laravel has a comprehensive and systematically indexed range of documentation available, making it easier for developers to learn and get solutions to any problem they come across.
It contains step by step tutorials on how to install and configure the framework besides numerous tutorials on different aspects of the framework. As mentioned earlier, Laravel also has a strong community, which includes many active and documented resources. There are many Laravel-related subreddits, dedicated Laravel forums, Laravel-focused blogs and numerous Facebook and Google+ groups where you can find support and exchange ideas.
This strong community presents the view where developers can always find support in various instances where they feel stuck or are asking for guidance on how to implement certain functionality.
Built in Authentication & Authorization
In any web application development, security is an important factor, and Laravel provides easy implementation of security services such as authentication and authorization. Integral with the framework are features for authentication and these are login, registration and the password reset functionality.
These features are fully configurable so the developer can change them to his specific application needs. Laravel also offers easy ways of handling user roles and the rights of the people who need to work with specific sections of the web application.
This inherent security lessens the possibility of various threats and security breaches and provides developers with an advantage of not having to code for the general authentication systems.
Artisan Command-In-Line (CIL)
The Artisan Command Line Interface of Laravel is a very useful tool that helps in minimizing the repetitive work of a developer.
It should also be mentioned that using Artisan, a developer is able to accomplish such actions as generating some fragments of code, creating database migrations, or handling the application cache, for instance, with a few terminal commands.
However, Artisan has more in it than the simple Net developer, the developers can build more from the tool according to the task required.
This flexibility helps the teams to create efficient patterns of work and enhance productivity since repetitive work can be handled by the tool by letting the teams focus on more important matters.
Database Migration & Seeding
The most common challenge in web development is managing Database Schema and changes! One powerful feature of Laravel is that its migration system introduced version control of the schemas of a database, where the tables and columns for an app can be defined and changed using pure PHP.
This allows for ensuring that changes made to the databases are reflected equally in both development and other environments and if there is a need for rolling back the databases, it can easily be done.
Beside migrations, Laravel also provides the overview of database seeding which can be used to populate the database of an applications for testing purposes.
This feature is most useful for development and quality assurance where the application will operate in a specific manner as dictated by the input data.
Modularity & Package Ecosystem
- Laravel has modular architecture that helps developers break down an application into small and reusable fractions.
- This simplifies the entire process and helps with code reusability while developing and integrating independent modules.
- Laravel also comes with a rich ecosystem of different packages that helps extend its functionality.
- These packages have a wide range of use cases like Third-Party Integrations, Real-time notifications, payment processing etc.
All these packages are provided within the ecosystem to allow and provide access to all the ready- made solutions that a developer might need while developing an application.
API Development
The increasing demand for mobile and single-page applications presents developers with the need for more robust API development.
Laravel makes this easier by providing features such as API resources and Automatic JSON Serialization for converting models and collections to JSON responses.
Other Laravel features to secure API data (such as API authentication via tokens) are also available.
Laravel’s simple and strong API development also makes sure developers can build stable, well-maintainable APIs to help the application be consumed by multiple clients and services.
In Conclusion
After reading all the good things about the Laravel Framework of PHP, there is no doubt that you are impressed with the technology!
Isn’t it! But do you know what makes Laravel and any other technology the best? The one who uses it develops something that can serve a business or a cause in the same way that is expected—or maybe exceed expectations!
Any technology in the world is developed to serve, but the difference between the most trusted and the most used technologies and the rest is the fact that they evolve with time and requirements!
And Laravel has a very active community!
Every year, adjustments and updates with new features and functionalities are introduced to overcome the challenges that the development community faces and cause trouble for those who will eventually use the final application.
And Laravel has all that and more to offer! A technology worth considering and using for your next application!
Author Bio:
Naveender Singh is a Senior PHP Developer and expert with over 7 years of experience. His expertise lies in crafting efficient, scalable, and secure solutions across platforms such as PHP Frameworks, React, WordPress, Drupal, SQL, and PostgreSQL. With a proven track record of developing robust solutions. Connect with Naveender on LinkedIn.
