A design pattern is a common solution to a common problem. Nothing more, nothing less. And, while some of these approaches might seem foreign or overwhelming to you, the important thing to remember is that, as a developer, you are in charge. That means you decide when a pattern is appropriate, and when it's completely unnecessary. That's the key.

SOLID represents a series of guidelines that developers can use to, if done well, simplify and clarify their code. While certainly not laws, understanding these concepts will make you a better developer.

We've all written code that misses the mark. Sure, it works, but, still, you're left with the feeling that you've missed something. The difficult part, unfortunately, is recognizing what that "something" is. In this series, we'll review ten techniques, one per episode, to improve the clarity of your PHP code.

If you've ever heard a developer use the term, "object calisthenics," you might have assumed that they were referring to some hugely complex topic. Luckily, though, that's not the case. It simply refers to a series of coding exercises to promote better software.

You did your best, but somehow that User object, over time, morphed into a monstrous God object. And your controllers started out nice and clean, but now... not so much. We've all been there. In this series, we'll review a number of ideas for whipping convoluted code into shape.

While many courses at Laracasts focus on the workflow of building something entirely from scratch, this one is a bit different. Come along as I work on the Laracasts codebase, itself. Each episode is unique. One might cover a new Vue component we need for the UI. Another episode may require that we TDD a new feature entirely. So pull up a chair and let's get to work.