Laravel From Scratch

Brief introduction to getting started with Laravel presented at the LaraJax Meetup In Jacksonville, Florida on November 21, 2019.

Transcript

3. Laravel is the most popular backend and second-most popular overall* web development framework in any language today. • Excellent documentation • Robust learning resources • Friendly, helpful, community • Expansive ecosystem But mostly, it’s a set of developer-focused tools to make building web applications easier. It abstracts the difficult, boring, and error-prone aspects of scaffolding a web app away so you can focus on creating. * Based on GitHub stars. VueJS is the most popular overall: https://github.com/topics/framework?o=desc&s=stars
4. Laravel also has a ton of free and paid tooling that extend or enhance utilization to make life easier:
5. • An environment with PHP >= PHP 7.2 • Mac – Catalina comes with 7.3 installed • Windows – can download from php.net, can install WSL, or use Homestead • Highly recommend downloading and adding to local path • Composer – https://getcomposer.org • A terminal • Mac – built in • Windows – Git for Windows, Cygwin, Powershell w/ WSL • A code editor • VS Code / PhpStorm / Sublime Text • A way to serve your project locally • php artisan serve • Homestead • Valet (Mac) • Lambo (Mac) • Laragon • Do not use XAMPP
6. • “A Dependency Manager for PHP” • What is a “dependency”? • Library code, commonly called “packages”, needed for your application to function • Can be a framework like Laravel that includes itself and its own dependencies • Packages solve common problems. E.g., Carbon for working with dates. • Why Composer? • Manage version and platform requirements • For example, Laravel 6.x requires PHP >= 7.2. Composer automatically detects that your version of PHP meets that requirements • Obviates the need to manually download anything • Autoloading • Together with namespacing allows you to easily use and organize required packages in your code • Any drawbacks? • composer dump-autoload • Have to ensure the PHP you use for development is the same as on server or you can run into version/requirement conflict issues • Where to get it: https://getcomposer.org
7. • Laravel Installer • Automates installing Laravel • composer –g require laravel/installer • laravel new myproject –auth • --auth is an option to include laravel/ui in your new project. It makes getting started with all the typical features you need for registering and authenticating users simple • Lambo (Mac) • composer global require tightenco/lambo • lambo myproject • Will go from zero to served – see the instructions • Using Composer • composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel myproject
8. • Artisan is a console application bundled with Laravel that makes accomplishing common tasks like creating models, migrations, and controllers easy • Type “php artisan” into your terminal to get a list of commands you may execute • Many commands have options—use the –h flag to see what you can do: • php artisan make:model –h • You can extend Laravel’s console with your own commands • No webserver configured yet? No problem. php artisan serve
10. • Get schooled • Laracasts – paid sub • Codecourse – paid sub • QiroLab -- YouTube Channel • Laravel Up & Running 2nd Edition - book • Test Driven Laravel – paid • Laracon Conference Talks: US / EU / AU – free • Onramp • Matt Stauffer – YouTube Channel • Awesome Laravel – a list of Laravel related stuff • Follow along • Twitter List of Laravel and other developers • Laravel News • The Laravel News Podcast • The Laravel Podcast • Get help • Laracasts Forums