Laravel has been developed by Taylor Otwell and is considered to be one of the best PHP frameworks to go around. Thanks to a large online community that backs up this framework, it is hugely popular among many developers and programmers. Unlike many other e-commerce or CMS frameworks, Laravel does not cater to specific needs. Instead, it has a much more all-round and holistic approach.
This framework is ideal to develop e-commerce and CMS applications.
Easy to Start with
Undoubtedly one of the clearest reasons why Laravel is such a huge hit among developers is because it is very easy to get started with. Anybody who is aware of even the basics of PHP framework would proficiently build a working website with the help of Laravel.
Open Source
Laravel is a free and open source framework that allows its users to build complex and large web applications very easily. In order to get started with Laravel, all one needs is a PHP installation and a Text editor.
Emerging Popularity
According to Google trends, Laravel is one of the best and most used frameworks. Its ability to handle very complex applications with relative ease is what enables its very high adoption among big companies.
Follows MVC
Transparency between presentation and business logic is very important when it comes to development. Keeping this in mind, Laravel is built on MVC architecture. This provides better documentation, many built-in functions and increases performance.
Authorization Systems & Building Authentication
It is imperative that each web application be able to properly assess and verify the users who are patching onto their system in order to ensure misappropriation of precious, secured and paid resources. With Laravel, the implementation of authentication is very simple. It also provides a very simple way to control access to resources and organize authorization logic.
Integration with Mail Services
Mail services are used to engage existent as well as new customers. Almost all modern web applications are integrated with mail services in order to engage visitors on their website. Laravel allows for a simple and clean API with the help of the SwiftMailer library. It also allows for drivers for SMTP, “send email”, Mailgun, PHP “mail” function, Amazon SES, and SparkPost. It, therefore, provides for an application to get started sending mail to a cloud-based or a local service. Over and above email, Laravel also allows its users to send notifications over other modes of communication such as Slack and SMS.
Tool Integration to Make Web Applications Faster
Applications that are fast also lead to accelerated revenue. More often than not, one of the main ways web applications are made faster is through integration with the caching backend. Popular cache backends like Redis out-of-the-box and Memcached are supported by Laravel. Cached objects are stored in the file system by the file cache driver. Laravel uses the file cache driver by default. It is always better to use in-memory cache such as APC or Memcached for large applications. However, Laravel allows its users to configure multiple cache configurations.
Fixing Common Technical Vulnerabilities
Any web application has to handle the issue of security vulnerabilities. Some of the most critical security vulnerabilities include cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and cross-site request forgery etc. Laravel is an extremely secure framework that helps to protect the web applications that are built with its help from serious security vulnerabilities. Its codebase is well guarded and its code has been verified severally.
Excellent Documentation
The main developer and the founder of Laravel, Taylor Otwell, has written the documentation of the framework himself. Otwell has an excellent command over syntax be it the English Language or programming. His documentation is simple and easy to understand while filled with the minutest of details.
Laracasts
Laracasts is a collection of free and paid video tutorials which show how to use Laravel. All the videos are done by an individual named Jeffrey Way who is a well-versed instructor and an expert. He offers concise and clear programming instructions. The quality of the productions is very high and the lessons are meaningful and well thought out.
Laracasts provide an enviable advantage and support to the Laravel framework in a way other frameworks do not possess.
Intuitive Syntax
The universally acclaimed book clean code was written by Robert C. Martin. In the book, he shows us how to write codes that are focused on the task and descriptive thus leading to a more maintainable and clear code.
Taylor Otwell adopted Martin’s principles while writing Laravel. Taylor’s command over both the English Language as well as the programming language makes Laravel a very accessible PHP framework.
Practical Application Structure
Although the application structure of the Laravel framework may be complex in some ways, it can be easy to work with. This makes it a very practical application structure.
For example, in Laravel 5, there are many folders. Searching for the folder of choice can be a task sometimes but there is an intuitive nature to the way the Laravel Application Structure has been laid out compared to other frameworks.
