Description #
Laravel is a popular open-source PHP web framework known for its elegant syntax, built-in tooling, and developer-friendly features. It simplifies tasks like routing, authentication, and database management—ideal for rapid application development and modern MVC apps.
History #
Laravel was created by Taylor Otwell and released in 2011 as a more modern alternative to CodeIgniter. It introduced expressive routing and Eloquent ORM, quickly becoming the most popular PHP framework.
Key milestones:
- 2011: Laravel 1 released
- 2013: Laravel 4 introduces Composer-based components
- 2015–2022: Laravel 5–9 add queues, jobs, Laravel Mix, Livewire, and Jetstream
- 2023+: Laravel 10+ focuses on modern PHP support, cleaner tooling, and scalable APIs
Hello World Code #
// routes/web.php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
Route::get('/', function () {
return 'Hello, World!';
});
This code defines a simple web route in Laravel that returns “Hello, World!” on the home page.
How to Run #
Locally with Laravel Installer: #
- Install Laravel via Composer:
composer create-project laravel/laravel hello-world
cd hello-world
php artisan serve
- Visit
http://127.0.0.1:8000to view the output
With Laravel Sail (Docker): #
./vendor/bin/sail up
Online Playground: #
- Try Laravel in-browser at https://laravelplayground.com
Key Concepts #
- MVC structure — separates Model, View, and Controller
- Blade templating — simple and powerful syntax for HTML templates
- Eloquent ORM — interact with databases using PHP classes
- Routing system — clean and readable route definitions
- Artisan CLI — built-in terminal tool for app management
- Middleware — filters for requests and responses
- Authentication scaffolding — built-in login, register, reset
- Queue and jobs — handle background tasks
- Events and broadcasting — for real-time applications
- Laravel Forge and Vapor — deployment tools for cloud scaling
Try It Online #
🔗 Laravel Playground
🔗 CodeSandbox Laravel (via container)
🔗 Replit – Laravel Setup
Fun Facts #
- Laravel is often called “the Rails of PHP”
- Founder Taylor Otwell runs Laravel as a business via [Laravel LLC]
- Laravel powers Statamic, Fathom Analytics, and thousands of SaaS startups
- Includes first-party packages like Livewire, Inertia, Jetstream, and Breeze
- Laravel has one of the largest dev communities in PHP
