Before you vent some frustration on another tool or programming community, take a deep breath and think about why you're irritated? We talk about our own reactions to some technologi...
We have such a rich ecosystem of packages in the Laravel and PHP community. But can there be too much of a good thing? What do we consider before adding a small package to our projec...
Laravel has a vibrant community of people teaching and sharing what they've learned. What makes a good tip? Should you tweet or blog or both? 00:00 Why blogging is beneficial 02:43 S...
New PHP version! New Laravel version! So exciting! But when does it make sense to upgrade, and when does it make sense to start using new language or framework features? PHP marches ...
How can a bug be fun, and not frustrating? When you treat it like a puzzle. Let's walk through a recent bug with CSV mime type validation and go deep down the rabbit hole. Think of a...
User experience is a term we hear a lot as developers, but it can mean different things depending on the context. We discuss a recent project where decisions around which HTTP status...
We discuss two "interesting" patterns we've observed in a number of Laravel projects. Let's take a step back and think about why we write tests the way we do. 1:06 - One weird patter...
We've all been there: a thorny piece of code works, but it seems like there must be a better way to simplify it or make it more readable. We share one example when this happened to u...
Hear about some cool new tool or coding technique on Twitter? Great, jump right in and use it on your biggest production app! Or . . . maybe don't. We share some thoughts on how to e...
Do you always finish everything you plan on doing? Probably not, very few developers do. The problem isn't always how you work. Some of it is how you plan. We discuss several tips on...
What do you do when you're stuck? Aaron shares a tip on how he breaks down a problem when he's feeling stuck. Are you stuck with your Laravel/PHP project? We can help! Book a free call.
We all know we should write tests, but what should we test? Is there anything it doesn't make sense to test? We talk through a high-level approach to how we do feature testing in Lar...
There are different ways to structure your translation assets in Laravel. We discuss how we approached this on a recent project, and why we chose the method we did. Check out the val...
Factories are really useful in tests, but could they give you a false sense of security if they don't generate models exactly like a user of your application would? We talk through s...
What a surprise, Joel and Aaron have a different learning style. We talk through our different approaches to learning, and what we've found useful. Did you like this? We'd appreciate...
Do you like to fiddle with settings? Joel doesn't. Find out why, and hear about one example where we like deviating from the defaults. Learn more about Laravel at masteringlaravel.io
Maybe you've inherited a project and just looking at how the code is organized makes your head hurt. Before you go ripping it apart and "making it better", it can be useful to take a...
You've inherited a legacy app. It's "running fine" in production, but when you add an error reporting tool, you see hundreds of errors, warnings, and notices logged each day. What do...
Can a Laravel developer learn something from the Rails or Erlang communities? We share some perspective on how to broaden your horizons, and when might be a good time in your career ...
Many of us have built something we thought was "throw-away" code, only to have someone decide it's good enough to ship to production. How can you prepare for this, and avoid problems...
If you are listening to this, you probably enjoy hearing other people share what they've learned. In this episode, we turn the tables and explain why you should consider sharing what...
How can you handle an interruption to your work, especially if it is an urgent request for help? We discuss how to do this without derailing your planned work for the day. Let us kno...
We walk through a recent experience where Joel was about to "burn down the world," as Aaron calls it. Instead, after doing a little exploration of the Laravel framework code, we land...
It feels good to finish a project, but before you move on, there are benefits to pausing and reflecting on what went well and what could have been better. If you're enjoying the podc...
We have to ship this feature in 2 weeks! Do we have time to test? In this episode we talk through this scenario and share some benefits of testing even under the pressure of a loomin...
For some values, it can be tricky to know whether it's better to calculate it on the fly or when to calculate it once and store in the database. We talk through a recent scenario we ...
We share a few rules that help guide us to determine when to manually fire an event versus when to wire up a model observer. Make my phone buzz and download a book to make you a bett...
Wrapping up our series on how we work, we talk through the end of a project and how to make sure there are no surprises. Download the free security tips ebook from masteringlaravel.i...
You learned a best practice, and it served you well. Is it set in stone? Or should you be open to re-evaluate later? Get those free e-books at masteringlaravel.io
We've all had disagreements about how to write or organize code, or how a feature should work. We share some tips on how to discuss it productively. Be a Joel, not a Cole: masteringl...