Why Laravel Framework Is the Best Choice for PHP Web Development

A recent survey^[i] revealed that PHP is used by 77.5% of all websites.

And as every popular programming language has a go-to framework (think Django for Python, Express for Node.js), PHP has its perfect match in Laravel.

Laravel is the most prominent PHP framework among all its counterparts, including the likes of Symfony, CodeIgniter, and CakePHP.

It is the top choice of developers and the highest-ranked PHP framework on Github.

So, what makes Laravel so popular and an ideal choice for your web app development? Let’s find out in this blog post.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is an open-source, easy-to-use PHP web framework. It was developed by Taylor Otwell in 2011 as an advanced alternative to CodeIgniter.

Laravel works entirely server-side and offers a robust backend for your website. It is used to build custom PHP web applications.

Laravel packs all the functionalities to make your web development process easier, faster, and better. It is best used to handle complex and repetitive tasks such as HTML templating, routing, and authentication.

It uses expressive and elegant syntax to make the web application more structured, practical, and user-friendly.

Why Use Laravel PHP Framework for Web App Development

Laravel scores better than other PHP frameworks for its advanced features and development tools. Here are the top 10 reasons that make Laravel a perfect platform for creating online applications –

1. MVC Architecture

MVC stands for Model, View, and Controller. It is an architectural pattern that ensures coordination between logic (Model) and presentation (View) with the help of the Controller. It offers effective support and a simple way to build applications out-of-the-box.

The MVC pattern in Laravel comes with in-built functionalities like pagination, authentication system, and streamlined database management. Using this results in performance improvement, better documentation, and increased scalability in web app development.

2. Blade Template Engine

A template engine processes the code in the source templates and directs the output to the corresponding text file. Laravel comes with the Blade template engine which is one of the most powerful PHP templating engines.

Blade uses inbuilt lightweight templates to create class-based components that can be reused anywhere. It lets you create amazing layouts using dynamic content seeding. Furthermore, it adds zero overhead to your app and offers features like template inheritance and displaying data that make development more flexible.

3. Object-Oriented Libraries

Laravel has in-built object-oriented libraries. These libraries come with excellent features like active users monitoring, password resetting, and encryption mechanism. When combined with other pre-built functions and structures of Laravel, they make the development process quick and intuitive.

Additionally, some of Laravel’s individual modules are entirely unique. This enables the use of up-to-date PHP language principles for responsive and modular development.

4. Eloquent ORM

Eloquent Object Relational Mapping (ORM) is one of the best ORM tools that come with customizations in Laravel. It facilitates the interaction with the app database objects with a simple ActiveRecord implementation.

It allows developers to perform database queries using simple PHP syntax. As a result, they don’t need to write complex code in SQL. This reduces the development time significantly.

5. Automated and Unit Testing

Thorough testing is necessary to ensure your app is bug-free. Laravel conducts testing in two directions – Feature and Unit. While the former takes care of the larger codebases with numerous objects, the latter tests the small snippets of code.

Laravel can run multiple tests simultaneously to ensure everything is tested properly. It automatically sets up the file phpunit.xml to perform unit testing. This makes the entire testing efficient and easy.

Moreover, developers can define custom test methods according to specific testing requirements. The result is high-performing web applications with optimized web code.

6. 100% Open Source

Laravel is completely open-source. As a result, Laravel users have several advantages, including-

• Regular release of new plugins and modules
• Full development transparency and collaboration
• Dedicated support of Laravel developer community
• More room for customization and modifications
• Access to a vast range of tutorials and resources
• Elimination of any ambiguities

7. Top-Notch Security

Web security remains a major issue for businesses. Laravel takes security seriously in its framework. It comes with a number of built-in security features such as password management, user authentication, data encryption, and route protection.

It uses a hashed password. So whenever a user logs into the system, an automated token is generated in encryption using the bcrypt hashing algorithm. This prevents unauthorized access to the web application.

Laravel uses predefined SQL statements that keep your website or web app free from injection attacks.

8. Task Management and Scheduling

To automate certain tasks, a scheduling mechanism is required. Earlier developers used to generate a Cron entry for each task they wanted to schedule, be it sending emails, notifications, or database cleanup.

Laravel eliminates the need for this lengthy process with an automatic command scheduler. It enables you to define your command schedule within the framework. Hence, only a single Cron entry is required on the server to execute the task.

9. Automatic Packaging System

Application packaging is necessary to deploy the application. It deals with multiple support software that helps developers to distribute the program on various platforms. Laravel uses a composer as a dependency manager to manage packages.

It has an Automatic Package Discovery feature that helps users with installation. They can install any package inclusion they want and disable unwanted features of the package.

10. Artisan Commands

Laravel has its own command-line interface called Artisan. This tool allows developers to automate tedious and repetitive programming tasks. They can generate MVC files, manage data configurations, and run console commands directly from PHP.

In addition, Artisan helps in publishing package assets, seeding and generating boilerplate code, and managing database migrations. You can also add custom commands with their own set of arguments, descriptions, and help text.

The Final Note

With a host of incredible features and trending repositories on Github, Laravel is an extremely versatile and suitable PHP framework. Furthermore, it is highly scalable and efficient in handling additional traffic, making it an ideal framework choice for a high-performing web application.

Want to Build a Stellar Web Application With Laravel PHP Framework? Let’s Talk!

References-

[i] W3techs – Usage Statistics of PHP for Websites