Outside Readings
The following is an index of the outside readings relevant to each week of the semester.
Week 1
- How to become a better developer by asking questions - Steve Gordon
- Writing the perfect question - Jon Skeet
- This following readings are optional and suggested only for students who are new to command line or Markdown:
Week 2
There are no outside readings this week.
Week 3
To help reinforce the topics covered this week, read/skim through the following PHP documentation pages:
Week 4
To begin to familiarize yourself with the Laravel documentation read through the following introduction pages:
Week 5
From Laravel Docs: Routing:
- #basic-routing
- #route-parameters
- Optional: Skim the rest of the topics
From Laravel Docs: Controllers:
- #introduction
- #basic-controllers
- Optional: Skim the rest of the topics
From Laravel Docs: Facades
- #introduction
- #facades-vs-helper-functions
- #how-facades-work
- Optional: Skim the rest of the topics
Week 6
- Logging: Writing log messages
-
Views:
- Introduction
- Creating & Rendering views
- Passing data to views
- Skim the rest of the topics under “Views” to be aware of what other features exist
-
Blade Templates:
- Introduction
- Displaying data
- Blade directives
- Layouts using template inheritance
- Skim the rest of the topics under “Blade Templates” to be aware of what other features exist
Week 7
HTTP Requests
HTTP Responses
Validation
Note that there are more topics covered in the docs under Requests, Responses, and Validation which I did not link to above, as they are not specific to the material we’re focussing on. That being said, you should skim through those other topics just to be aware of what other features/options exist.
Week 8
As noted in lecture, frameworks like Laravel abstract much of the SQL used to interact with our databases. However, it’s good to have a foundation in the fundamentals of SQL in order to better understand what these tools are doing behind the scenes.
With that in mind, read the following: Chapters 1 and 2 from Learning SQL
Also, from the Laravel docs, go through the following database-specific docs. I’ve marked each reading as Read, Skim, or Skip to indicate which readings you should be focussing on.
-
- Introduction Read
- Configuration Read
- Read & Write Connections Skip
- Using Multiple Database Connections Skip
-
Listening For Query Events Skip
-
Database Transactions Skip
-
- Introduction Read
- Generating Migrations Read
- Migration Structure Read
- Running Migrations Read
-
Tables Read
- [Creating Tables](Creating Tables ) Read
- Renaming / Dropping Tables Read
-
Columns
- Creating Columns Read, paying close attention to “Available Column Types”
- Column Modifiers Read
- Modifying Columns Skim
- Dropping Columns Skim
-
Indexes
- Creating Indexes Skim
- Dropping Indexes Skim
- Foreign Key Constraints Skip - we’ll get more into this in an upcoming week
Week 9
There are numerous reading this week, so a reminder: the goal with these readings is not to master all the information. Instead, the idea is to familiarize yourself with the features that are available. This way, when you’re working on your application and needs arise, you’ll recall reading about it and can revisit the topic in order to dig into it in more detail.
I’ve marked each reading as Read, Skim, or Skip to indicate which readings you should be focussing on.
- Introduction Read
- Generating Model Classes Read
-
Eloquent Model Conventions Read
- Table Names Read
- Primary Keys Read
- Timestamps Read
- Database Connections Skim
- Default Attribute Values Read
-
Retrieving Models Read
- Collections Skim - We’ll cover this in Week 10
- Chunking Results Skim
- Streaming Results Lazily Skim
- Cursors Skim
- Advanced Subqueries Skim
- Retrieving Single Models / Aggregates Read
-
Inserting & Updating Models Read
- Inserts Read
- Updates Read
- Mass Assignment Read
- Upserts Read
-
Deleting Models Read
- Soft Deleting Skim
- Querying Soft Deleted Models Skim
-
Query Scopes
- Global Scopes Skip (more complexity than we need right now; focus on local scopes)
- Local Scopes
- Comparing Models
- Events Skip
In addition to the above Eloquent docs, you should also skim through the Query Builder docs. In lecture I noted we’d be focussing on using Eloquent over Query Builder, however, all the functionality that Query Builder offers is available to Eloquent. Thus, being aware of what the Query Builder can do will strengthen your knowledge of what Eloquent can do.
Seeding
- Introduction Read
- Writing Seeders Read
- Running Seeders Read
Week 10
- Introduction Read
- Available Methods Read
- Custom Collections Skip
Misc
Week 11
Laravel Fortify Skim everything
Service Providers Skim everything
Eloquent Relationships Read the following: