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Getting Started with Laravel 4
Discover Laravel – one of the most expressive, robust, and fl exible PHP web application frameworks around
This book is ideal for web developers who want to get up to speed with Laravel quickly. You are expected to have some experience with the PHP programming language– or any C-like languages such as JavaScript, Perl, or Java– along with some understanding of basic OOP concepts. Any experience with MVC frameworks such as ASP.NET MVC or Ruby on Rails will certainly be beneficial but not required. Lastly, some familiarity with command line interfaces will also help but is not essential either.
PHP powers many of the largest websites on the planet. Yet, even though it was specifically created for the Web, its shortcomings never cease to frustrate developers. This is where a tool like Laravel comes in. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Laravel reuses tried and tested components and principles and bundles them to form a cohesive whole and makes PHP development enjoyable again.
Getting Started with Laravel 4 is a practical and concise introduction to the Laravel PHP framework. It covers its fundamental concepts and presents the many features that will boost your productivity when developing web applications. After introducing the key concepts and installing Composer, you will build a CRUD application and add more features to it in each successive chapter.
This book introduces you to a different and more enjoyable way of writing PHP applications. You will start by learning about the key principles and the same development practices that Laravel encourages. Then, in subsequent chapters, you will create and successively add more features to a web application.
You will learn how to use the arsenal of tools at your disposal and probably pick up some useful techniques along the way. Indeed, everything you will learn in this book is highly transferrable and applicable to other MVC frameworks. Laravel's routing mechanism, templating language, and object-relational mapper will have no more secrets for you. You will learn how to authenticate users, write tests, and create command line utilities that interact with your application with disconcerting ease. In addition to this, you will probably be surprised by the simplicity and expressiveness of your code.
This book is ideal for web developers who want to get up to speed with Laravel quickly. You are expected to have some experience with the PHP programming language– or any C-like languages such as JavaScript, Perl, or Java– along with some understanding of basic OOP concepts. Any experience with MVC frameworks such as ASP.NET MVC or Ruby on Rails will certainly be beneficial but not required. Lastly, some familiarity with command line interfaces will also help but is not essential either.
PHP powers many of the largest websites on the planet. Yet, even though it was specifically created for the Web, its shortcomings never cease to frustrate developers. This is where a tool like Laravel comes in. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Laravel reuses tried and tested components and principles and bundles them to form a cohesive whole and makes PHP development enjoyable again.
Getting Started with Laravel 4 is a practical and concise introduction to the Laravel PHP framework. It covers its fundamental concepts and presents the many features that will boost your productivity when developing web applications. After introducing the key concepts and installing Composer, you will build a CRUD application and add more features to it in each successive chapter.
This book introduces you to a different and more enjoyable way of writing PHP applications. You will start by learning about the key principles and the same development practices that Laravel encourages. Then, in subsequent chapters, you will create and successively add more features to a web application.
You will learn how to use the arsenal of tools at your disposal and probably pick up some useful techniques along the way. Indeed, everything you will learn in this book is highly transferrable and applicable to other MVC frameworks. Laravel's routing mechanism, templating language, and object-relational mapper will have no more secrets for you. You will learn how to authenticate users, write tests, and create command line utilities that interact with your application with disconcerting ease. In addition to this, you will probably be surprised by the simplicity and expressiveness of your code.
- GenresProgramming
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 20, 2014
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5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 16, 2014
The Good
This book is aimed at newcomers to PHP development, and to Laravel 4 in particular. It doesn't disappoint. It starts slow, talking about the need for, and role filled by frameworks. It explains what Composer does, and why it's useful for frameworks like Laravel. It's not the typical "Laravel needs Composer, here's the code you use" stuff.
There are 40 pages of what is essentially a very gentle introduction, before you even start writing code. This is often a vital, missing part of introductory books, and it is refreshing to see Raphaël Saunier approach it delicately.
The book demonstrates how to build a simple application, introducing readers to the most basic usages of Eloquent, Schema Builder, Blade and the various other parts of the framework. None of it's complicated. Yet it's not just a rehash of the official docs, so there's value to be had in coding alongside.
The remaining sections cover (albeit briefly) testing, building artisan commands, structuring more advanced applications and using the in-built helpers. If you are familiar with Laravel, then you "may want to consider acquiring a different book". As I said, this book is aimed at newcomers. It may not be as comprehensive (or indeed as popular) as Code Bright, but it's worth your time.
The Bad
I mentioned Code Bright, back there, because it is the definitive introduction to Laravel 4. Building on the success of Code Happy (the Laravel 3 iteration), Dayle has written a great book.
I was mildly surprised to find this book slight more expensive than Code Bright. At the current rate of exchange, it's about 3 pounds more costly to buy this book than it is Code Bright. When you consider that this book is also teaching less, and just one of many Laravel 4 books currently vying for public attention, it's difficult to tell where this book is likely to end up.
I want to tell you to buy it, and if you can get it for cheaper (though the price tag I was comparing was directly from Packt) then it might not be a bad deal. If you need to choose between the two, I suggest you first consider Code Bright before this book. I mean no disrespect to Raphaël. Code Bright is just a better deal.
This book is aimed at newcomers to PHP development, and to Laravel 4 in particular. It doesn't disappoint. It starts slow, talking about the need for, and role filled by frameworks. It explains what Composer does, and why it's useful for frameworks like Laravel. It's not the typical "Laravel needs Composer, here's the code you use" stuff.
There are 40 pages of what is essentially a very gentle introduction, before you even start writing code. This is often a vital, missing part of introductory books, and it is refreshing to see Raphaël Saunier approach it delicately.
The book demonstrates how to build a simple application, introducing readers to the most basic usages of Eloquent, Schema Builder, Blade and the various other parts of the framework. None of it's complicated. Yet it's not just a rehash of the official docs, so there's value to be had in coding alongside.
The remaining sections cover (albeit briefly) testing, building artisan commands, structuring more advanced applications and using the in-built helpers. If you are familiar with Laravel, then you "may want to consider acquiring a different book". As I said, this book is aimed at newcomers. It may not be as comprehensive (or indeed as popular) as Code Bright, but it's worth your time.
The Bad
I mentioned Code Bright, back there, because it is the definitive introduction to Laravel 4. Building on the success of Code Happy (the Laravel 3 iteration), Dayle has written a great book.
I was mildly surprised to find this book slight more expensive than Code Bright. At the current rate of exchange, it's about 3 pounds more costly to buy this book than it is Code Bright. When you consider that this book is also teaching less, and just one of many Laravel 4 books currently vying for public attention, it's difficult to tell where this book is likely to end up.
I want to tell you to buy it, and if you can get it for cheaper (though the price tag I was comparing was directly from Packt) then it might not be a bad deal. If you need to choose between the two, I suggest you first consider Code Bright before this book. I mean no disrespect to Raphaël. Code Bright is just a better deal.
March 27, 2016
Thought i need laravel 5 book, I started with Laravel4 so as to understand the framework, Guess what i could now understand the various technical aspects of the framework, and that too i quick amount of time, I eventually went on to read laravel.com/documentation which made lot of sense now after reading the Getting Started with Laravel 4 book. Must be a Quick Read for beginners.
March 20, 2015
Great book with clearly defined, step by step examples. A wonderful reference. Too bad I finished it just as the software was updated and completely revamped. Look forward to reading the next edition.
October 11, 2016
Well organized and good introductory book for Laravel 4.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews