Get started with Laravel: A beginner’s guide

Laravel is a popular PHP web application framework that makes building powerful and scalable web applications easy. It offers a wide range of features and functionalities that make it one of the most preferred frameworks for web development. If you are a beginner who is looking to get started with Laravel, then you have come to the right place. In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to get started with Laravel.

Step 1: Understand Prerequisites

Before diving into Laravel, ensure you have a basic understanding of PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Knowledge of MVC architecture is beneficial.

Step 2: Understand the Basics

Begin by understanding the basics of web development, PHP, and MVC architecture. Familiarize yourself with the concepts of routes, controllers, views, and models.

Step 3: Set Up Your Environment

Install PHP, Composer, and Laravel on your local machine. Choose a code editor or IDE that you"re comfortable with.

Step 4: Learn Laravel Fundamentals

Explore Laravel"s documentation and tutorials to understand its core concepts such as routing, middleware, Blade templating, and Eloquent ORM.

Step 5: Build Simple Projects

Start building small projects like a simple blog or a to-do list application to practice your learning. Focus on implementing CRUD operations and basic authentication.

Step 6: Explore Advanced Features

Dive deeper into Laravel by learning about advanced features like authentication, authorization, form validation, and database relationships.

Step 7: Practice Regularly

Consistent practice is key to mastering Laravel. Work on different projects, experiment with new features and challenge yourself to solve problems.

Step 8: Follow Best Practices

Learn about Laravel"s best practices, coding standards, and optimization techniques to write clean, efficient, and maintainable code.

Step 9: Engage with the Community

Join Laravel forums, attend meetups, and participate in online communities to connect with other developers, ask questions, and share knowledge.

Step 10: Learn Deployment

Understand how to deploy Laravel applications to web servers, manage server configurations, and handle deployment processes effectively.

Step 11: Continuous Learning

Stay updated with the latest Laravel releases, follow blogs, watch tutorials, and keep learning new features and techniques to improve your skills.

By following this step-by-step guideline and actively practicing and learning, you"ll gradually become proficient in Laravel development. Remember that learning takes time and patience, so don"t get discouraged if you encounter challenges. Keep practicing, stay curious, and enjoy the journey of learning Laravel!

Now we are going to guide you through the steps to give a kickstart in your Laravel learning journey.

Install Laravel

1. Requirements: Make sure you have PHP installed on your system. Laravel requires PHP 7 or higher.
2. Install Composer: Laravel uses Composer for dependency management. You can download and install Composer.
3. Install Laravel: Once Composer is installed, open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

composer global require laravel/installer

      4. Create a New Laravel Project: Navigate to the directory where you want to create your project and run:

laravel new project-name

Configure Environment

1. Database Configuration: Open the .env file in your project root directory and configure your database settings.
2. Application Key: Generate an application key by running

php artisan key:generate

Explore Project Structure

1. app/: Contains your application"s core code.
2. config/: Configuration files for your application.
3. database/: Database migrations and seeders.
4. public/: The entry point for your application and public assets.
5. resources/: Views, language files, and assets like CSS and JavaScript.
6. routes/: Define your application"s routes.
7. storage/: Logs, cache, and uploaded files.
8. tests/: Unit and feature tests.

Routing

1. Web Routes: Define routes for your web application in routes/web.php.
2. API Routes: Define routes for your API in routes/api.php.
3. Route Parameters: Learn about route parameters and how to use them.

Views and Blade Templating

1. Blade Templates: Laravel uses Blade as its templating engine. Learn how to create and extend Blade templates.
2. Passing Data to Views: Pass data from your controllers to views.
3. Creating Views: Create views for your application"s pages.

Controllers

1. Creating Controllers: Generate controllers using the Artisan command or manually create them in the app/Http/Controllers.
2. Route Model Binding: Learn about route model binding to automatically inject models into your controller methods.

Models and Database Interaction

1. Creating Models: Define models to interact with your database.
2. Database Migrations: Use migrations to create and modify database tables.
3. Eloquent ORM: Learn about Laravel"s Eloquent ORM for interacting with your database.

• To learn these basic topics we offer a beginner-friendly course on Laravel titled "Laravel Basics." This course is ideal for beginners with no prior experience in Laravel or PHP. Through hands-on exercises and guided projects, you"ll learn essential Laravel concepts such as routing, views, controllers, and database migrations. Course: Laravel Basics

Middleware and Authentication

1. Middleware: Use middleware to filter HTTP requests entering your application.
2. Authentication: Implement authentication using Laravel"s built-in authentication system or third-party packages like Laravel Passport.

Validation and Form Requests

1. Form Validation: Validate incoming request data.
2. Form Requests: Create form request classes to encapsulate validation logic.

• To learn these topics we offer a structured learning path with hands-on projects, "Laravel Beginner to Advanced". This course covers everything from basic concepts to advanced techniques in Laravel. You"ll learn how to set up a Laravel environment, work with routes and controllers, implement authentication and authorization, and build a complete CRUD application. Course: Laravel 10 - For Beginner to Advanced (2024)

Services and Dependency Injection

1. Service Providers: Register application services in service providers.
2. Dependency Injection: Utilize Laravel"s powerful dependency injection container.

• To learn these topics we offer a beginner tutorial series on Laravel. This provides step-by-step instructions for beginners to learn Laravel from scratch. You"ll learn how to install Laravel, create routes, build views, work with databases, and more. Each tutorial is concise and easy to follow, making it suitable for beginners. Course: Laravel From Scratch

Testing

1. PHPUnit: Write unit and feature tests for your application.
2. Browser Testing: Use Laravel Dusk for browser automation testing.

• "Laravel: Test-Driven Development" will teach you how to build robust Laravel applications using Test-Driven Development (TDD) techniques. This course covers writing tests, using PHPUnit, and implementing TDD workflows in Laravel projects. Course: Test Driven Development(TDD) with Laravel

Deployment

1. Environment Configuration: Set up environment variables for production.
2. Optimization: Optimize your application for production by clearing caches and optimizing autoloading.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

1. Automate Tests: Set up automated testing as part of your CI pipeline.
2. Deployments: Automate deployments using CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins.

• "DevOps Project: CI/CD with Git, GitLab, Jenkins, and Laravel" is an intensive course designed to equip learners with the skills needed to implement a robust CI/CD pipeline for Laravel applications. Through hands-on tutorials and real-world examples, students will delve into key DevOps tools like Git, GitLab, and Jenkins. From setting up local development environments to automating testing, building, and deployment processes. Course: DevOps Project: CICD with Git GitLab Jenkins and Laravel

Learn and Experiment

1. Official Documentation: Refer to the Laravel documentation for detailed information on various topics.
2. Community: Join Laravel communities like Laracasts, Laravel News, and Laravel Reddit for updates, tutorials, and discussions.

By following these steps and continuously experimenting with Laravel, you"ll gradually become proficient in building web applications with this powerful framework. Happy coding!