Laravel 4 is a PHP framework that leverages Symfony components and follows PSR-2 standards. It requires PHP 5.3 and uses features like dependency injection and Composer. While CodeIgniter is easy to learn, Laravel 4 has a larger community and more addons available. The framework has evolved over time from CodeIgniter and Kohana to Symfony and now Laravel 4, which stays lightweight while providing flexibility.

1. Why I <3 Laravel 4
@philsturgeon

2. YAY MOAR
FRAMEWURKZ!!1

3. Use DIFFERENT
frameworks for
DIFFERENT things.

4. APIs
Silex, Slim, etc
Backend/Frontend
Laravel, Symfony, FuelPHP,
Zend Framework, etc
CLI/Workers
Python?

9. Example*
*buy my software

10. PyroCMS
CodeIgniter = EASIEST FRAMEWORK EVER
Anyone can pick it up
Anyone can make an addon
I make $ when those addons are sold

11. Barriers to entry suck
Smaller community
Elitist douchebags
Less addons
Less money
No beer

12. CodeIgniter != Laravel
CodeIgniter supports PHP 5.2
I don’t care about PHP 5.2
PHP 5.3 is my new base version
Laravel 4 uses PHP 5.3 extremely well
Composer + PSR-2 = Double Rainbow

14. Framework Evolution
CodeIgniter Symfony
Kohana
FuelPHP
Laravel 3 Laravel 4

16. Leveraging Symfony
Well tested
Framework agnostic
Enough new wheels
Incredibly flexible

17. Leveraging other stuff
Swift Mailer - Mail to all the things
Monolog - Log to all the things
Doctrine Common - Fuck knows, but yay
* All PSR-2

21. Staying light
$ cloc .
32 text files.
28 unique files.
50 files ignored.
http://cloc.sourceforge.net v 1.56 T=1.0 s (22.0 files/s, 1100.0 lines/s)
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