Where to REALLY LEARN Laravel

You can't learn Laravel by reading books documentation or by watching videos. All of those things are resources that you can use, and most of them are really useful, but to truly learn Laravel (or anything for that matter) you have to DO it :-)

So I recommend you ask around for family and friends whether or not they have some minor problems that can be solved by a small application (e.g. managing inventory in a wine cellar) and have some fun with it. That's the way I learned and it's still the best way as far as I'm concerned :-)

Thanks for calling L5 Fundamentals a crappy cookbook.

I don't really understand the question. There's no text documentation? Yes there is. There's also hundreds of videos on this site, where we dig into much of the architecture.

As @Elimentz stated, the best way to learn is by doing. Install laravel (follow the docs!) and start coding. Watch the great videos on this site when you want to know more about a specific topic or get stuck (thanks @JeffreyWay -- I think your 'cookbook' is quite comprehensive, nice work). Nobody can learn it for you, and no matter how many videos you watch and books you read, nothing can compare to the knowledge you'll gain when you actually apply that knowledge by coding an app of your own. Understanding of the underlying framework and architecture will come in time with exploration of the API and the laravel source code.

Good luck!

P.S. - Instead of bashing the fundamentals series, go create an app on your own without it and maybe you'll appreciate it after you get stuck. There's actually a ton of great content in there.

Like Jeffrey said there is a lot to find about Laravel on this site!

About the Fundamentals series, calling it a crappy cookbook is just not nice from you. Jeffrey puts a lot of time and effort in this site to fit the needs of all kind of users! The serie gives you a good view on what you can do with Laravel and it definitely doesn't stop there!

If you want to know more Laravel architecture stuff and how for example the IOC Container works, then Laracasts can help you out: https://laracasts.com/search?q=ioc&q-where=lessons

No framework has a shortcut to really learning it and the architecture. It's a hard problem due to the wildly different knowledge/experience levels of the users.

Taylor's book https://leanpub.com/laravel is an overview of the architecture of Laravel. L5 has introduced some things on top of this, but nothing different enough to make this resource irrelevant. I suggest checking it out!

@laracastsorsol your reputation/experience suggests you're new. You haven't completed any lessons. And this is the first thing you ask?

I'm ruling out that you are trolling which, with a post like yours, you absolutely are. But lets just say for a moment that you're not.

Just a simple question. Where can I learn Laravel?

• Laravel.com
• Laracasts.com
• Google it

There is no text documentation

Take a look at the official documentation here

I want to know the whole architecture

Take a look at the entire API here

@JeffreyWay don't take it personally. @laracastsorsol you offered no constructive criticism on how Laracasts could be better. What would you like to see?

@laracastsorsol Troll

Whats with these odd people giving @JeffreyWay & Taylor a hard time? If you don't like the framework or its not for you, there's no need to slag the people off Offer constructive criticism by all minds, but not abuse and to call a book a book crappy is a bit of insult.

So if you don't like it for whatever reason and its not for you there are other frameworks out there, try one of those.

@lstables it's always been like that.

Haters gonna hate. Devs gonna make.

@toniperic no call for it though is there..?

Everyone here including Jeff is here to help others learn and learn themselves.

Wow. Hard to tell if this is trolling or if this is someone who didn't make any effort to try.

@devinfd they are the same in this case. If you don't try and show absolutely no evidence, then you are trolling.

Obviously a troll. Why would you come on the message boards of a Laravel-specific video tutorial site and say there are no resources? It’s like walking into McDonald’s and saying there are no fast food restaurants in the area.

Probably the same troll @JeffreyWay posted on twitter.

It’s like walking into McDonald’s and saying there are no fast food restaurants in the area.

no, not this thing in this box, I mean I want to REALLY LEARN hamburgers.

:D

OK sorry for my crappy comment, so be constructive. Is there a document, where I can find the architecture of the framework not by examples, but by reference? What is done and most importantly WHY it is done the way it is? Do fundamental means to know little of everything or much of one thing? Beacuse after this video I know much of some things but the rest was not touched at all! I know it takes a long time to create the video, but what about the result?

Wouldn't it be nice to have a video with full architecture, file by file, layer by layer, documented with examples and the magic WHY it is done the way it is? I assume, there will be 50% less questions how to do this or that, if such documentation is available.

Laravel books and documentation are not that great, If you really want to get into the details of it then pick up a good book on modern PHP, that is what I did. Something that tells you all about namespaces, traits and so on. But does it in the detail you seem to be looking for.

Most of Laravel is not Laravel, it's PHP if that makes sense. So it's often best to learn through PHP if you are not familiar with the way a framework does things. My view at least.

@laracastsorsol there is no such thing

@laracastsorsol can you provide an example of any framework that has it?

Hi @laracastssorsol, when you find an invaluable source for this or any other technology as Laracasts, come and tell us.

Sometimes we criticize what we are not able to do. Do it, teaches, and then speaks.

Sometimes we also believe that there is only one way to learn something without effort, sometimes arrive without knowing anything about PHP and we want to learn in a very short time to use a framework like Laravel, or want magic recipes, a life solved in one click.

Please, when you work hard and understand really your question and arguments, then you will understand the invaluable of the teachings of @JeffreyWay as well as the effort off @TaylorOtwell and other developers here dedicated to providing us tools, tips and their help so that we can make great projects.

@laracastsorsol that would take far too long to do and ultimately pointless, there is only so much that can and/or should be taught. The rest is up to you, you have to want to learn it.

Read my previous post, there are links to the official documentation and API there.

And then start by making small apps. There are some examples of a task app, sending DMCA notices, a really nice Twitter/Facebook style clone. Once you get to grips with those, then you can start to have a go yourself. Then, when you get stuck, ask a sensible question and we'll try and help.

In my opinion, the most complex part of Laravel to understand alone is the Eloquent ORM. @JeffreyWay, as always, does a brilliant job digging in the inners of it in his advanced eloquent series [ https://laracasts.com/series/advanced-eloquent ].

Laracasts is a great source of knowledge regarding how to structure and architect an app, not just a Laravel one, but any modern we based app/api. Take a look into the incremental API series, the SOLID principles collection (one of the most comprehensive series about SOLID I've seen), Repository, Service Providers, Testing, Pusher and Mailgun integration and so.

Regarding the framework architecture, besides the above mentioned advanced eloquent series, there are many videos Collections, Relationships, Migrations, Elixir... I could list all of them, and all of them are really helpful to fully understand laravel.

Anyway, I second some of the opinions here, about if you want to learn it start building something ASAP, also the great work @TaylorOtwell has done with Laravel is based on very modern software engineering practices and modern PHP features. So dig into modern PHP best practices and you'll be in the way to fully understand the framework.

Also, as @pmall said, I never saw a framework with a collection of videos about each single feature. If you have an example of it, please share it.

One more thing, take a look at the reading list in laracasts' recommended reading session: [ https://laracasts.com/recommended-reading ]. I did not read all of them, but some of them were very helpful when I started with Laravel. In addition to that list, there is also the excellent book about testing with laravel by @JeffreyWay himself: [ https://leanpub.com/laravel-testing-decoded ].

P.S.: Be kind to who help you without asking nothing in exchange. Serving is a pleasure every time it is recognized with kindness.

Laravel codebase itself is exactly this.

@laracastsorsol Christopher Pitt has a blog series on rebuilding laravel which might interest you.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a video with full architecture, file by file, layer by layer, documented with examples and the magic WHY it is done the way it is?

@laracastsorsol - A Laravel Fundamentals series that went through the codebase file by file would be a disaster. Literally nobody learns a new framework that way. You're looking for a deep dive into the codebase. We've started an Eloquent review of this sort here: https://laracasts.com/series/advanced-eloquent

Everything you need to learn about Laravel is in the three links below...

https://github.com/laravel/laravel

https://github.com/laravel/framework

http://laravel.com/api/5.0/

If you want to extend your laravel learning to other laravel-centric tools (homestead, elixr, socialite, etc..), then take a gander through here: https://github.com/laravel

Other than that, I 100% agree with @fideloper, you've got to learn the language itself and programming basics.

My goodness, I can't understand how can you be so stupid to make this question here. It's unbelievable, I can't wrap my head around it. Regarding the constructive answers you can listen to what some of this brilliant people already told you or you can continue being an arsehat and maybe go ask Messi or CR7 how you can get a real soccer player, one that does every movement in slow motion so you can understand them.

Laravel codebase itself is exactly this.

Yes. If you want the definitive reference, read the source. Everything you need to know about Laravel's architecture is there.

Of course, as Jeffrey said, going through all the source files is not an effective way to learn a framework. Jeffrey does often reference the source to make a useful point, but the videos on Laracasts are carefully designed around helping people learn. That mainly means teaching by example and encouraging people to try things out rather than just thinking about them.

Eh, idk fellas, I learn more by going through the codebase than from any other source including Laracasts. Laravel is not new to me though, I've been with Laravel since before version 3, so I'm familiar with most of the patterns, structures, etc... that are used. Same as on here (laracasts), I generally look at the github repos to see the code rather than watch the videos when it's available.

I've been a member on here for 1 1/2 to 2 years, only finished 14 videos maybe watched half a dozen more, doesn't mean that I don't get my moneys worth, because I do, I just don't learn via video well. Reading the forums, seeing other people's example code, trying to solve other people's issues (though I don't always answer), looking through the laracast github repos and the occasional video, is where my gravy is.

My point to this was I completely agree with Jeffrey that it would be absurd to do a series file-by-file, I do not agree with @Mike Hopley in "going through all the source files is not an effective way to learn a framework" it's worked for me and it's worked for other. Some people that's the only documentation that they ever need.

So overall to @laracastsorsol don't be a chode, learn where the different resources are and learn it your way, whatever that it. Regardless of your style of learning though, the tools and means to do so are out there.

@JeffreyWay Just to offer another opinion: After watching only 2 of the Laravel 5 Fundamental videos, I knew that I had to subscribe and enjoy the rest of the materiel. I've been learning a lot, thank you for all of your hard work. You should charge more for site membership (As long as I would be grandfathered in). =P