Laravel – A PHP Web Framework
Laravel was released in 2011 by Taylor Otwell as an open-source PHP-based web framework. It has a model-view-controller (MVC) design pattern for the development of web applications. This architecture ensured the creation of web applications in an effortless and controlled manner leading to the tremendous popularity of the Laravel framework. This popularity is just increasing with time and will continue to do so. Why? For that, we need to understand the journey of Laravel.
Journey Over the Years
Since its initial release in June 2011, Laravel has introduced a wide range of features to provide its developers with the ease and flexibility to code that they need to create a web application. Being an open-source framework, the features introduced have been from the author as well as the community. This allowed the framework to make a steady but certain improvement over the years. IoC (Inversion of Control) containers, Blade templating system, Artisan CLI & Long-term support are only a few examples of the updates that Laravel presented to its user base.
This graph of Laravel downloads can efficiently highlight its growth over the years:
Future Scope for Laravel
The graph of Laravel downloads shows a steady increase in the usage of this PHP Framework but will this pace continue for the coming years? The growth of Laravel is fueled by timely updates and user-friendly features, keeping it fresh even after so many years. The current version of Laravel in use is Laravel 9, released on February 8th, 2022. With its launch, Laravel has transitioned to yearly releases declaring the release date of version 10 as February 7, 2023. All things considered, Laravel still holds the position of being one of the, if not the best, PHP frameworks for developing web applications and is going to have that position in the coming times. Take a look at this Google Trends Data showing people’s interest in Laravel compared to its alternatives over the past 12 months:
Let’s take a look at the emerging trends of Laravel Framework, which would help it to continue reigning at the top even in 2023.
Best Development Trends of Laravel Framework in 2023
- Blockchain Technology
An information recording system known as Blockchain Technology is designed to work in a way that makes the system secure and immutable. Due to the utmost safety of online transactions carried out by cryptocurrencies, Laravel developers have started integrating cryptocurrencies into their payment systems. - Micro-frontends
Micro-Frontend is an architecture using which web applications can be developed by slicing up the massive codebase into independent fragments which can be worked on by different teams. As this provides higher scalability and flexibility, Laravel developers can write and deploy their code components independently. - Enhanced Security
Apart from being known for its features and a large user community, Laravel is considered to be a highly secure PHP framework as it provides complete control in the hands of the web developer. It also allows easy handling of security flaws due to its widespread usage. - Automated Testing Environments
Testing is a crucial process in development as developers want to ensure they provide a flawless application to their clients. Recent updates in the framework have made automated testing to be way more effective compared to manual ones. Laravel automatically sets up the configuration environment while running tests making the process simpler yet more efficient. - Scalability
Scalability is the ability to handle the increasing amount of users and workload by adding computational resources without causing any disruptions in performance. Laravel is popular for its ability to build a highly scalable and well-performing web application. Laravel incorporates PHP’s development functionalities with its powerful tools to ease up the process of scalability. - IoT Integration
PHP applications are known to serve as useful IoT (Internet of Things) applications. With its security and ability to analyze huge chunks of data, Laravel is considered to be a complete package when it comes to programming IoT devices. - Smart Chatbots
Smart chatbots are created to provide near-human communications to customers. Using Laravel, developers can create these intelligent chatbots to make their customer service more effective. These chatbots can carry out various interactions, such as answering customers’ questions and even providing them with advice related to their requirements. - User-friendly Interface
Laravel is impressive when it comes to developing a user-friendly application. It helps create a highly responsive interface, enhancing the end-user experience. It’s also highly effective when you want your web application to be mobile-friendly with seamless navigation for all your features. - Comprehensive Library
Laravel comes with a free, built-in library for its developers, aiding them throughout the entire development process. It also allows users to create their custom libraries resulting in the most extensive library collection for a web application framework. - Cloud Integration
Laravel offers a practical & effective cloud integration functionality. It helps businesses to reduce operational costs and receive fast-scalable online solutions, improving their operational efficiency. - Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
AMP is an open-source HTML framework that allows you to create web pages that load quickly with user-centric designs. Laravel offers a highly optimized combination with AMP, improving user experience with fewer efforts and expenses.
Winding Up!
Laravel’s ability to build authentic applications with features such as quick data retrieval, search-engine friendliness, smooth navigation, and high security makes it one of the most obvious choices in PHP Frameworks. It will continue to hold a strong position amidst the web developer’s community. So it’s safe to say that the sun won’t set on the Laravel framework anytime soon!
