Laravel is a PHP (Personal Home Page) based framework used mainly to create web-based applications using a wide range of significant and useful syntaxes. Taylor Otwell developed this framework as an attempt to introduce a more advanced alternative to build web applications than those which were available at that time. What added to the superiority of Laravel was the feature of built-in support for client authentication and authorization.
Laravel is an umbrella framework that encompasses a wide range of features and technologies like ASP.NET, MVC, Codelgniter, and many more. This framework is an open-source framework that can be easily accessed by users. It is not only time-saving but also eases the process of creating the entire concept of a website from scratch by providing a suitable framework according to the needs of the user.
Along with being cost-effective and time-saving, it also ensures the safety of your created web application. If one understands the basics of PHP as well as a certain amount of PHP scripting, the Laravel framework can significantly help you in creating and customizing your web-based application.
Important facts about Laravel
As mentioned above, Laravel is a necessary framework which a considerable amount of people make use of due to the various features and technologies associated with it. Before understanding the nitty-gritty of the structure, here are some essential facts about Laravel-
- Laravel is a PHP-based web-framework developed by Taylor Otwell in July 2011
- It is one of the few open-source PHP frameworks easily accessible to the users
- The framework is entirely compliant with MVC i.e.; it follows the model-view-controller framework.
- It is one of the most popular frameworks for web application development, introducing new features such as user authentication and authorization to the forefront.
- The Laravel 6.0 version happens to be the newest version of the framework that was released on 3rd September 2019. The latest version contains features such as the Ignition error page, improved authorization responses, job middleware, and many more.
Noteworthy features of Laravel-
Laravel has been improvising and updating itself quite rapidly in the last few years, introducing unique and game-changing features to the forefront. Due to these continuous and dad-to-day updated and features, Laravel is getting more powerful and is getting more and more popular among the users. Here are a few noteworthy features of Laravel which make it different and unique-
- Tool Integration- At times, the performance of a site is significantly hampered by the various functionalities and features that it incorporates. It can, after that, affect the most critical element of any web-app i.e., speed. Laravel provides the unconventional support of popular cache backends such as Redis and Memcached to ease the process of enhancing the speed of your application. Hence, integration, along with caching, can considerably help in improving the speed and efficiency of your use.
- Blade Templating Engine – The .blade.php file extension helps Laravel web-developers to change, customize, or revamp the entire layout of the web page without facing any hassles. The extension helps in enhancing the webpage by enabling the user to add different designs, re-use or split templates, developing the code with just a few characters as well as organizing the file system in a hierarchical, logical and systematic way, as per the requirements of the user.
- High-Security Migration System- Web-application developers are at constant risk of facing multiple cyber attacks daily. Development of a web-application and security vulnerabilities are two factors that are connected. These security vulnerabilities may include SQL (structured query language) injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, etc.
Laravel deals with such security breaches within its framework by using encrypted SQL to prevent any SQL injection and ensures to create an encrypted password rather than saving a password with plain-text. It further enhances the security system of Laravel.
- PHP Unit Testing – Verification and testing of a web-application are considered to be essential steps in the development process. It ensures that the application does not contain any errors, glitches, bugs, etc. Laravel provides unit testing with a file extension phpunit.xml to the users to help them remove any errors adhering to the initial application requirements.
Reasons responsible for the popularity of Laravel
As mentioned above, Laravel has gained tremendous popularity in recent times owing to the various updates, features, and useful functionalities that it incorporates. Some of the reasons for its popularity are cited below-
- The Laravel framework is easily accessible and time saving by enabling the users to hundreds of lines of codes within a few minutes with the help of tools provided by the web application developer.
- It contains efficient security systems to battle any security vulnerabilities like SQL injection by creating encrypted passwords rather than using passwords in plain text.
- Unit testing is included in the Laravel framework, which helps the users in removing any bugs, errors, or glitches present in the application.
- The framework also contains a blade templating system to enable the user to write codes with the help of predefined templates provided by this feature. This addition eases the overall process of developing a web-based application.
- Laravel contains a variety of tools, libraries, and templates which makes the life of web-developers stress-free and straightforward. Due to the rapid introduction of updates and features, the framework successfully fulfills the requirements of the users, which significantly adds to the popularity of Laravel.
Conclusion
Laravel has gained a tremendous amount of popularity and recognition in the last few years in the web developing industry. The framework is continually evolving and introducing new features, tools, and functionalities to ease the process of web application development. The framework is easy-to-use for people who have a good understanding of PHP. Besides, the framework is time-saving, easily accessible, and an open-source for everyone to use.
Laravel provides features such as high-security systems, unit testing, robust authorization, blade templating engine, tool integration, and many more to help users develop a glitch-free and errorless application. It has revolutionized the field of web-application development by providing in-built templates and tools to write hundreds of lines of codes within just a few minutes. All these features contribute significantly to the success of the Laravel framework.
