Laravel is a powerful, modern PHP framework known for its elegant syntax and robust ecosystem. While CodeIgniter focuses on being lightweight and minimalist, Laravel comes with “batteries included,” providing a vast array of built-in features that accelerate development.

Here is our  15-day beginner-to-intermediate syllabus for Laravel, structured to match the learning pace of the CodeIgniter course.

Phase 1: The Core Framework (Days 1–5)

Day 1: Introduction, Installation & Architecture

• Concepts: The Laravel ecosystem. Composer, Node.js, and package management. Understanding the modern Laravel directory structure.

• Practical: * Installing Laravel via Composer or the Laravel Installer.

  • Setting up the local environment file (.env).

  • Running the development server via Artisan (php artisan serve).

Day 2: Routing & Basic Responses

• Concepts: How Laravel maps incoming requests. Named routes, route parameters, and route groups.

• Practical: * Defining web routes in routes/web.php.

  • Working with required and optional route parameters (/user/{id}).

  • Redirects and returning direct JSON or view responses from a route.

Day 3: Controllers & Request Handling

• Concepts: Shifting logic from route files to organized classes.

• Practical: * Generating controllers using the Artisan CLI (php artisan make:controller).

  • Handling user requests using the Request object.

  • Creating resource controllers for standard CRUD operations.

Day 4: Blade Template Engine

• Concepts: Laravel’s powerful template engine. Layout inheritance, components, and control structures.

• Practical: * Creating base layouts using @extends, @section, and @yield.

  • Working with Blade components (<x-layout>).

  • Using Blade directives for loops (@foreach) and conditionals (@if).

Day 5: Weekly Review & Mini-Project I

• Practical: Build a Company Directory Website.

  • Create a multi-page application with routes for different departments.

  • Utilize Blade layout inheritance to share a navigation bar and footer.

  • Pass dynamic array data (e.g., employee lists, department details) from a controller to the Blade views.

Phase 2: Database & Business Logic (Days 6–10)

Day 6: Migrations & Schema Builder

• Concepts: Database version control. Structuring tables programmatically.

• Practical: * Configuring MySQL/MariaDB in the .env file.

  • Creating and altering database tables using Artisan migrations (php artisan make:migration).

  • Running and rolling back migrations (php artisan migrate:rollback).

Day 7: Eloquent ORM & Seeders

• Concepts: Object-Relational Mapping (ORM). Interacting with the database using PHP objects instead of SQL.

• Practical: * Creating Eloquent Models and understanding conventions (table names, primary keys).

  • Writing basic CRUD queries using Eloquent (User::all(), find(), create(), update()).

  • Using Database Seeders and Model Factories to generate dummy data.

Day 8: Form Validation & Mass Assignment

• Concepts: Keeping the database secure. Understanding mass assignment vulnerabilities and protecting models.

• Practical: * Handling HTML form submissions.

  • Defining rules using $request->validate().

  • Displaying error messages using the Blade $errors variable.

  • Configuring $fillable or $guarded properties in Eloquent models.

Day 9: Sessions & Flash Data

• Concepts: Managing state and user messages across stateless HTTP requests.

• Practical: * Storing and retrieving values from the Laravel session helper.

  • Using flash data for post-submission status alerts (e.g., “Post created successfully!”).

  • Implementing custom status banners in Blade layouts.

Day 10: Weekly Review & Mini-Project II

• Practical: Build a Simple Blogging Application (CRUD).

  • Implement form validation for creating and editing blog posts.

  • Use Eloquent models to read, write, and delete posts from a database table.

  • Pass flash success notifications upon successful database operations.

Phase 3: Advanced Ecosystem & Security (Days 11–15)

Day 11: Authentication & Breeze

• Concepts: Scaffolding complete authentication flows safely.

• Practical: * Introduction to Laravel’s authentication system.

  • Installing Laravel Breeze for an instant, secure login/registration setup.

  • Understanding the underlying authentication routes and controllers generated by Breeze.

Day 12: Middleware (Route Protection)

• Concepts: Filtering HTTP requests entering your application.

• Practical: * Using built-in middleware like auth and guest.

  • Protecting specific routes or groups of routes using middleware definitions.

  • Creating custom middleware using Artisan (e.g., restricting access based on user role).

Day 13: Eloquent Relationships (Introduction)

• Concepts: Connecting data tables together naturally through code.

• Practical: * Setting up a One-to-Many relationship (e.g., A User has many Posts; a Post belongs to a User).

  • Displaying related data in a Blade view (e.g., printing the author’s name next to a blog post).

Day 14: API Development & Resources

• Concepts: Building backends for mobile apps or single-page frontend apps (Vue/React).

• Practical: * Working within routes/api.php.

  • Formatting API outputs cleanly using Eloquent API Resources.

  • Testing JSON endpoints via Postman or an integrated HTTP client.

Day 15: Capstone Project & Production Prep

• Practical: Build a Support Ticket System.

  • Features: Registered users can submit support requests with category dropdowns; authenticated agents/admins can view all tickets, update their statuses, and add internal notes using Eloquent relationships.

  • Wrap-up: Optimization commands for deployment (php artisan config:cache, route:cache).