Laravel is a PHP web framework that modernized PHP development. Created by Taylor Otwell, it brought elegant syntax and modern features to PHP, making it the most popular PHP framework.
Origins
Otwell created Laravel in 2011, frustrated by CodeIgniter’s limitations. He wanted to bring Rails-style conventions and modern PHP features to framework development.
Key Features
Laravel modernized PHP development:
- Eloquent ORM: Elegant database access
- Blade templates: Simple, powerful templating
- Artisan CLI: Development automation
- Migrations: Version-controlled database schema
- Middleware: Request/response filtering
- Queues: Background job processing
Ecosystem
Laravel’s ecosystem provides comprehensive tooling:
- Forge: Server management
- Vapor: Serverless deployment on AWS
- Nova: Administration panel
- Livewire: Reactive UIs without JavaScript
- Inertia: Modern SPAs with Laravel backends
Impact
Laravel proved PHP could be elegant:
- Most popular PHP framework
- Attracts developers to PHP
- Influenced PHP language evolution
- Created sustainable business around open source