Some companies reach a certain level of success and that is their maximum, while others work to constantly improve year by year. Laravel is a PHP framework that continuously becomes better, and the fact that proves this is that more and more developers choose this framework as their favorite one. Developers want and most definitely need to always have a nice workflow because it provides them with the two valuable parts of a successful development process, which are having enough time, and being able to use effective resources. That is why we are lucky to have a PHP framework like Laravel.
Laravel is one of the most popular PHP frameworks today, and there are many reasons why it is a good choice for development and many other privileges it brings with its usage, like Laravel WordPress integration or Laravel WordPress API usage to make a single interface between your client and data. There is also a Corcel WordPress advantage since with Laravel you can use Corcel to fetch data from WordPress. Many reasons make this framework amazing, and the end results that it provides can not be denied by anyone.
But before we get into some of the most important features that make Laravel valuable, first let’s see short general information about this framework.
What Is Laravel, Actually?
Laravel was created by Taylor Otwell as an open-source and free PHP framework, whose intention is to develop web apps with the MVC, model-view-controller, architectural pattern, and it is based on Symfony since 2011.
Another reason that shows Laravel is high-quality is that it is licensed by MIT, and it is hosted on GitHub. There are many advantages from the features Laravel has, and some of the most important ones are that it has a modular packaging system that also has a dedicated dependency manager. Also, various ways of accessing relational databases and utilities that help in the maintenance and also help in app deployment. Last but not least, an orientation towards syntactic sugar. Until now there are 8 versions of Laravel with the latest being Laravel 8 released in September 2020. Also, there will be a Laravel 9 with long-term support from January 2022, Laravel 10 from January 2023, and Laravel 11 from January 2024.
Laravel drew attention and became first popular when they released Laravel 3 in 2012 that had features like Artisan which is a Command Line Interface, a packaging system titled Bundles, and Support for Database migrations and system. And from this year up until today, Laravel became extremely popular in the development world, and it seems like it will only get better with every next version. With the ability to create long-term versions, Laravel allows its users as developers to work with a certain version for a long period of time while also having support and don’t have to worry about extremely problematic issues. That is what Laravel is, a PHP framework that makes things a lot easier for developers.
Since we cleared that out of the way, now let’s get into the top 5 reasons why Laravel is valuable:
Better to Be Safe Than Sorry
Security is the number one priority why Laravel is one of the most popular and valuable PHP frameworks today. It is able to ensure high-end security for all apps, and this is the basic element of any database. Also, Laravel has the Bcrypt algorithm that it is used to encrypt the passwords because it doesn’t save passwords as plain text since they can be attacked or compromised. Another valuable thing is that injection attacks that might occur on the database can be stopped because of prepared Laravel SQL statements that will protect the app from attacks.
So in essence, you can be sure that no problems will appear because Laravel provides complete protection since it is an intermediate function. It has the ability to provide security effectively all the time to protect the app from potential risks, and this is the most valuable thing since there is no function without protection. It is definitely better to be safe than sorry and in order to even build customer fans and provide fast and secure apps you have to use a framework like Laravel that allows you to do it fast and in time.
MVC Architecture Support
Another great advantage is that the Laravel PHP framework has a Model View Controller Support that is able to give precise clarity between presentation and logic. The Model View Controller Architecture gives the developer a feeling of comfort and a sense of having the ability to easily build a web app or site for any organization or business. And this is very important in the developing world since what they need the most is time and resources.
The MVC in Laravel gives the developer better documentation of the work that is stored in separate files. It is great that these files can be retrieved from logical directories. Another valuable advantage is that the Model View Controller has the quality to simplify unstructured codes that will provide a high-performance site. And at the end of the day, this is the most important thing, to be able to create a site that is fast and secure without making any problems for the user. These are the different qualities that make an enormous difference between a good site or a bad site. Of course, the goal is to make it as good as it can be, the easiest way possible.
Easy Testing
Laravel, as one of the finest frameworks, has complete support for testing with great testing features. This provides an easy and simple way to make an app that encourages the behavior of the user. Laravel has its own specific testing feature titled PHP Unit, and it can support unit testing for every web app. There are also feature tests, and the Unit tests are used mainly for smaller parts of code, while the feature testing is used for more objects with large codebases.
Another highly valuable part of the quality features of Laravel testing is that it is able to maintain multiple unit tests at the same time that creates a high-performing app since it makes bug-free web apps. Once again, Laravel finds a way to help create an app that won’t have bugs, and they won’t bug future users. Testing is an enormous part of the development process, and without it there is no possible way to make anything in the development world that will be worth using.
Migration of Database
One of the things that developers find difficult is the performance of database migrations, which is the act of moving data from one database to another. It can be extremely painful and difficult to perform database migration between various machines of development since it can have the need for synchronization while the migration is happening. Therefore, Laravel decided to create a way to make this highly demanding process a lot more simple and a lot easier for developers. That is why Laravel supports synchronization between machines of development and makes a huge benefit of this process. Easy and simple is what every developer needs, and what is the point of creating or developing something if you can not do it effectively and in time.
Artisan and Blade Template Engine
Using dynamic content seeding, developers can create the layout in a simple and easy way by having Laravel’s Blade’s built-in template engine. The blade is extremely powerful and useful because as an intuitive tool, it has the ability to make sure that an app is stable and robust by providing multiple widgets. It makes the writing of syntax extremely easy, and it can provide structure for itself like loops and conditional statements, and it is also driven by sections and inheritance of templates. These shortcuts give developers the advantage to have an extremely clean way of working and remain familiar with PHP counterparts of the PHP control structures.
The management of database migration and repetitive automated tasks is made possible by Laravel’s built-in command-line tool named Artisan. It is a very powerful and high-quality tool that allows developers to perform their own tests and make custom commands. Artisan is also driven by Symfony Console, and it has many different commands that can be very useful in the development process. It has various writing commands, registering commands, Command I/O, programmatically executing commands, and many others.
Final Words
At the end of the day, whether you agree or disagree with these top five reasons why Laravel is valuable, you still can not deny them. Laravel is without a doubt one of the elite, high-ranking PHP frameworks in the entire world today. And since it is planning a new long-term support version soon, it is obvious that this company doesn’t intend to stop improving. Laravel always has great updates and various upgrades from one version to another, and we can all hope that it will continue on this path for many years to come. Simple and easy, but yet effective is the formula for a successful development process.
