The dominant PHP framework.
WHAT IT PROVIDES
Routing An ORM Migrations and seeding Validation Authentication scaffolding Queues and scheduling Templating Testing tooling A command-line tool
WHY IT IS WIDELY USED
It provides everything needed, with strong conventions and excellent documentation.
WHAT THE STRUCTURE IS
Routes mapping to controllers Controllers delegating to services or handling directly Models representing data Views rendering output
WHAT TO KEEP THIN
Controllers.
WHERE TO PUT LOGIC
Services, actions, or model methods.
WHY
Logic in controllers cannot be reused or tested independently.
WHAT THE SERVICE CONTAINER PROVIDES
Dependency resolution, so classes receive what they need.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Facades used everywhere, which obscure dependencies Very large models Business logic in views
WHAT TO LEARN FIRST
Routing, controllers, the ORM, validation and migrations.
WHAT TO CONFIGURE FOR PRODUCTION
Debug disabled, and configuration, route and view caches built.