A bit of history

Laravel was first released in 2011 by Taylor Otwell, a web developer from Arkansas, USA. At the time, PHP frameworks such as CodeIgniter and Yii had been gaining popularity, but Otwell felt that they were too complex and did not provide enough functionality out of the box. He set out to create a new framework that would be more elegant, simple to use, and feature-rich.

The first version of Laravel, version 1.0, was released in June 2011. It featured an elegant syntax, similar to Ruby on Rails, and a simple routing system. However, it lacked some of the more advanced features that are now standard in modern web frameworks.

In the following years, Otwell released several updates to Laravel, introducing new features such as Eloquent ORM, Blade templating engine, and Artisan CLI. These updates helped to establish Laravel as a powerful and feature-rich framework that was easy to use.

In 2013, Otwell released Laravel 4, which represented a major overhaul of the framework. It introduced several new features, such as support for Composer, a dependency manager for PHP, and a built-in task scheduler. This version of Laravel was also the first to introduce support for multiple languages, making it more accessible to developers around the world.

In 2015, Laravel 5 was released, introducing even more features such as support for PHP 7, improved support for multiple languages, and built-in support for task scheduling and task management.

In the years since Laravel 5, the framework has continued to evolve and improve with the release of new versions, such as Laravel 6, 7 and 8. These versions have brought new features such as improved performance, enhanced security, and more powerful tools for building web applications.

Today, Laravel is widely considered one of the most popular and powerful PHP web application frameworks, and is widely used by developers around the world. The framework has come a long way from its humble beginnings and continues to evolve, making it an exciting tool for web development.

Why do we at Looming Tech use Laravel

Let's explore some of the reasons why we consider using Laravel for every new web development project we start.

  • Eloquent ORM: Laravel's Eloquent ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) makes it easy to interact with your database using an elegant, simple syntax. Eloquent makes it easy to perform common database operations, such as querying, inserting, and updating data, without having to write complex SQL queries.
  • Blade Templating Engine: Laravel's Blade templating engine allows you to create templates with minimal PHP code. This allows you to focus on the design and layout of your website, rather than the underlying PHP code. Blade also offers a range of useful features, such as template inheritance and sections, that make it easy to create reusable, modular templates.
  • Artisan Command Line Interface: Laravel's Artisan command-line interface (CLI) provides a set of useful commands that can help you automate common tasks, such as generating boilerplate code and managing database migrations. This can save you a lot of time and effort, and make it easier to manage your project.
  • Built-in Authentication and Authorization: Laravel comes with built-in authentication and authorization features that make it easy to add user authentication and authorization to your application. This includes features such as password hashing, password reset, and user roles and permissions.
  • Large and Active Community: Laravel has a large and active community of developers who contribute to the framework and share tips and tricks. This means that if you run into any problems, you can likely find a solution on the internet quickly. Additionally, Laravel has a wide range of third-party packages available, which can help you add additional functionality to your application.
  • PHP Laravel Framework supports a message queue system for load balancing. The system helps maintain a healthy web server along with effective traffic management. Thus, it keeps a web server healthy – one of the many Laravel benefits. The Laravel queue service provides a unified API across a variety of different queue backends. Queues allow you to defer the processing of a time-consuming task, such as sending an email, which drastically speeds up web requests to your application.

    • These tools and features can help you to quickly build a functional and reliable API.

    If you are already familiar with Laravel and have experience building APIs, you may be able to develop a simple API relatively quickly. For example, you could build a basic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) API in a matter of hours or a day.

    However, if the API you are building is more complex and involves more advanced features it may take longer to develop.

    Products we have developed/ are developing with the framework

    Checkout this article on a product we've built for our Belgium customer Monizze (monizze.be):

    https://www.looming.tech/post/monizze

    We work with them on several different initiatives having a team of 5 PHP Laravel engineers.

    Another interesting bit is the Insta Cash product which REST API was built entirely on Laravel:

    https://www.looming.tech/post/fintech-well-being-startup-mvp-instacash

    Few other projects we haven't written about (yet) are:

    Off The Record (https://www.otrbristol.org.uk/ ) a system for anonymous registration for teen counseling and

    RedStart Education program (https://redstarteducate.org/ ) which represents a system teaching kids in the UK to understand (and manage) finance.

    Work with us

    Working with a development partner like Looming Tech can be a great way to take advantage of the power of Laravel, and bring your web development projects to life.

    We have a deep understanding of the Laravel framework and are able to leverage its powerful features to deliver high-quality, scalable, and reliable products.

    One of the major advantages of working with us @ Looming Tech is our ability to understand your business requirements and turn them into a functional product. We can help you to plan and design your application, and then implement it using best practices, ensuring that your project is delivered on time and on budget.

    Another advantage of working with us @ Looming Tech is that we provide ongoing support and maintenance for your application. Our team can help you to identify and resolve any issues that may arise, and ensure that your application remains up-to-date and secure. This can help to minimize downtime and keep your application running smoothly.

    Additionally, we have a strong focus on security and testing, which is essential for any web application. We use the latest security standards and techniques to protect your application from potential threats, and thoroughly test the code we've built to ensure that it is reliable and performs well.

    In conclusion, working with a development partner like us @ Looming Tech can be a great way to take advantage of the power of Laravel and bring your web development projects to life. Our team of experienced developers can help you to design, develop, and deliver high-quality, scalable, and reliable products.