Laravel is a PHP framework that has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years. This is because it offers several features and benefits that make it an excellent choice for building custom software. In this blog post, we will discuss the top 7 benefits of using Laravel for your next project.
The Laravel framework is great to build your custom software on for several reasons including the documentation, extendibility, essential features already baked in, community and support, and pre-built, open source packages.
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What is The Laravel Framework?
Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web framework, created by Taylor Otwell and intended for the development of web applications following the model–view–controller architectural pattern. Some popular Laravel projects include Laravel Spark, Cashier, Passport, and Scout. Laravel is released under the MIT license, with its source code hosted on GitHub.
Laravel’s first stable version released in June 2011. The latest stable version out is now version 9, which was released on February 8, 2022. You can view Laravel’s release notes here.
Who is Using the Laravel Framework?
According to BuiltWith, as of February 2020, there are currently 161,027 active websites using Laravel. This is a testament to the growing popularity of the framework and its continued adoption by developers all over the world.
There are numerous industries that need enterprise-level applications, apart from banks. This comprises the healthcare, entertainment industry, eCommerce, and others that include data processing, heavy traffic, and complexities. With its growing popularity, it has become the first choice for many developers when it comes to enterprise-level applications.
Why Use Laravel?
There are several reasons why you should use Laravel for your next project. We’ve listed the top five benefits below:
The Documentation is Great with Laravel
One of the first things you’ll notice about Laravel is how well-documented it is. Not only does it have comprehensive documentation on the official website, but there are also dozens of books and screencasts available to help you learn the framework. And if you ever get stuck, there’s a large and friendly community that’s always willing to help out.
Laravel offers great documentation that is easy to follow and comprehensive. This is extremely important, especially if you are new to the framework or PHP in general. The documentation is also constantly updated with each new release of Laravel.
Extendibility
Another great thing about Laravel is its extendibility. If there’s something you need that’s not included in the core framework, chances are there’s already a package or two that provides it. And if not, it’s easy to create your own custom packages and share them with others.
Laravel is highly extendible, which means that you can add on additional functionality as needed without having to re-write existing code. This saves a lot of time and effort in the long run.
You can spend some time exploring popular Laravel packages to see for yourself!
Essential Features Already Baked Into Laravel
One of the benefits of using Laravel is that many essential features are already baked in. Laravel comes with a lot of features out of the box, including authentication, routing, sessions, and caching. This means you don’t have to spend time building these features yourself – they’re already there waiting for you. And if you need something that’s not included in Laravel, chances are there’s already a package available that provides it.
Additionally, Laravel has diverse features such as template engine, MVC architecture support, top security, artisan tool, database migration system and etc. These Laravel advanced features make it better than other PHP frameworks.
Community and Support
The Laravel community is one of the largest and most active in the world. There are always people available to help you with your project, whether it’s finding a package that meets your needs or solving a problem you’re having. And if you ever need commercial support, there are plenty of companies that offer it.
The Laravel community is large and active, with tons of people available to help out. If you ever have a question or get stuck on something, there’s sure to be someone who can point you in the right direction.
Laravel is Secure
Laravel is one of the most secure frameworks available. It includes features like input and output validation, CSRF protection, and automatic escaping that help keep your application safe from attack.
Security is a top priority for Laravel, and it includes features like input and output validation, CSRF protection, and automatic escaping that help keep your application safe from attack.
Some of the security features Laravel offers include:
- Storing passwords
- Configuration
- Protecting routes
- Manual logging in users
- Authenticating users
- Authentication drivers
- Password reminders and reset
- Encryption
Testing is a Cinch
When it comes to the testing of the application Laravel by default provides the unit test for the application, which itself contains tests that detect and prevent regressions in the framework.
Laravel makes it easy to write and run tests for your application. By default, Laravel includes a set of unit tests that verify the functionality of the framework itself. These tests are run automatically on every new release of Laravel, ensuring that regressions are never introduced into the codebase. In addition to the core unit tests, you can also easily write your own feature-level tests using PHP Unit or any other testing framework.
Pre-Built Packages
Included with Laravel is a package manager called Composer. This allows you to easily install and update third-party packages used in your application. And because Laravel uses Composer, you can rest assured that all of the packages you use will play well together. There are packages for everything from authentication to routing to caching – all of which have been tested and proven to work well with Laravel. This makes it easy to get started on your project without having to spend time building everything from scratch.
Laravel is a great framework to build your custom software on for several reasons. The documentation is excellent, it’s extendible, there are essential features already baked in, the community and support are top-notch, and there are pre-built, open source packages available. If you’re looking for a PHP framework to build your next project on, Laravel should be at the top of your list.
If you’re looking for help with your next Laravel project, get in touch – we’re always happy to chat about how we can help!
