Why Should You Choose Laravel For Your Next Web Project?

Why Should You Choose Laravel For Your Next Web Project?

By Arun Kumar Biswal

While writing a web application in PHP, you have option to choose from a wide range of PHP frameworks. The usage statistics posted on several websites suggest that Laravel is currently more popular than other PHP frameworks. But smarter web developers never choose a PHP framework based on its popularity or market share. You must evaluate the pros and cons of Laravel to choose the PHP framework that meets all project needs perfectly. As an open source PHP framework, Laravel helps you to curtail web application development cost.

It further accelerates custom web application development by providing a number of robust features and tools. At the same time, Laravel has been evolving consistently to meet the emerging trends in web development. In September, Laravel 5.5 was released with an array of new features - resource classes, automatic package discovery, time based job attempts, on-demand notifications and new frontend preset options. You must understand the important features and tools provided by Laravel to decide if the PHP framework meets you project needs.

12 Reasons Why You Must Choose Laravel for Your Next Web Development Project

1) Intuitive Syntax Rules

The syntax rules of Laravel are both simple and easy-to-understand. You can learn syntax of Laravel without putting extra time and effort. The syntax rules will make it easier for you to maintain and update the Laravel application by writing clean code. Also, the syntax of Laravel enables you to focus on a web application's functionality and performance instead of its source code.

2) Composer

While using Laravel, you can enhance the web application's functionality and user experience by using third-party packages. Laravel further helps you to manage the external packages efficiently through a robust dependency management tool like Composer. You can even install and run Composer smoothly by running specific Artisan commands. But Composer will help you to set up Laravel projects without downloading zip files and cloning Github packages. You even have option to make changes to the composer.json file to install the require packages quickly.

3) Artisan

Laravel allows you to perform common web development tasks through a command line interface - Artisan. You can run Artisan commands to perform common web development tasks and optimize the performance of the Laravel applications. At the same time, Laravel allows you to create custom commands according to your precise needs. You even have option to create a new custom command by running an existing Artisan command - make:command.

4) Eloquent ORM

Laravel comes with a built-in object relational mapper (ORM) system - Eloquent. You can use Eloquent ORM to work with multiple databases and perform common database operations. While using Eloquent ORM, you can work with multiple databases efficiently through ActiveRecord implementation. Likewise, you can take advantage of models to perform common database operations without writing lengthy SQL queries. The database migration tool provided by Laravel further simplifies the process of synchronizing multiple databases running on different systems.

5) Blade Template Engine

As Laravel supports model-view-controller (MVC) programming paradigm, you can develop complex web applications rapidly by keeping their user interface and business logic layers separates. At the same time, the Blade template engine will help you compile all views into PHP code, include PHP code in the views, and cache the PHP code till the views remain unchanged. You can even take advantage of Blade template engine to display data and extend layouts without affecting the Laravel application's performance.

6) RESTful Routing

In addition to simplifying web application development, Laravel facilitates web service development by supporting RESTful routing. You can use the PHP framework to build web services based on REST architecture. The feature enables you to make the web application interact with other applications and services through an open protocol like HTTP. Further, you can simplify web services development by leveraging HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.

7) Unit Testing

While using Laravel, you can perform unit testing with PHPUnit. PHPUnit makes it easier for you to test specific features or functionalities of the web application by performing unit testing throughout the development process. At the same time, Laravel enables you to perform unit testing simply by writing test cases and defining custom test methods. Hence, you can write and execute test cases easily according to specific testing requirements.

8) Authentication Library

The authentication library provided by Laravel helps you to keep the web applications secure by implementing a variety of authentication. You can even control and manage individual authentication services simply by making changes to the authentication configuration file. Also, you can avail the security features provided by the authentication library to encrypt data, create login pages, and prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

9) Caching System

In addition to providing a basic caching system, Laravel also supports widely used caching systems like Redis, Memcached and APC. You can take advantage of the basic caching system to store objects in a database or file. Also, you can run specific Artisan commands to cache both configuration and routes. At the same time, you can easily speed up the Laravel application by replacing the basic caching system with a robust third-party caching system like Redis or Memcached.

10) Multiple File System

The version 5 of Laravel came with native support for multiple file system. You can use third-party packages to work with multiple file system seamlessly. Laravel even allows you to customize the configuration through different options - config.php and filesystem.php. You even have option to customize the configuration through both local and cloud-based storage. The native multiple file system support makes it easier for you to keep the APIs consistent by choosing the right drive.

11) API Development

The latest version of Laravel simplifies API development by resource classes. While writing APIs, you can leverage the resource classes to link Eloquent models and JSON requests without creating an additional transformation layer. The resource classes further enable you to convert models and model collections into JSON without requiring an additional transformation layer.

12) On-Demand Notifications

Laravel 5.5 allows you to send on-demand notifications to individuals who are accessing the web application without registration. These individuals normally access the web application without signing in as users. Laravel developers can invoke the Notification::route method to send on-demand notifications through the web application to such users simply by defining the custom ad-hoc notification routing information.

The robust features and tools provided by Laravel make it easier for you to build custom web applications according to varying business requirements. The additional features often impact the performance of Laravel applications adversely. Hence, you have to implement a number of performance optimization techniques to boost the application's speed and user experience. But Laravel has been evolving consistently to meet the emerging web application development trends. You can always accelerate custom web application development by availing the new features and enhancements included in the latest version of Laravel.

Article Source:  Why Should You Choose Laravel For Your Next Web Project?