What is middleware, when would you use them? Middleware in Laravel acts as a bridge between a request and its corresponding response. It performs actions on the request or response, such as authentication, logging, or modifying headers. You would use middleware when you want to filter HTTP requests entering your application.
What is CORS? CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) is a security feature implemented by web browsers that allows or restricts web applications running at one origin to make requests for resources from a different origin. In Laravel, you might encounter CORS when dealing with API requests from different domains.
What is CSRF? CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) is an attack where a malicious website tricks a user’s browser into performing an action on a different website where the user is authenticated. Laravel protects against CSRF attacks by including a CSRF token in every form generated by the framework.
What does the service container do, when would you use it? The service container in Laravel is used for managing class dependencies and performing dependency injection. It resolves and injects dependencies automatically. You would use the service container when you want to decouple class dependencies, making your application more modular and maintainable.
What is dependency injection? Dependency injection is a design pattern where a class receives its dependencies from external sources rather than creating them itself. In Laravel, dependency injection is often facilitated by the service container.
Why is unit testing important, can you give an example of what makes a good and bad unit test? Unit testing is essential for validating that individual units of code (functions or methods) work as expected. A good unit test is isolated, meaning it tests a specific behavior in isolation. It should be repeatable, independent, and have clear assertions. A bad unit test might be one that is overly complex, depends on external factors, or is not focused on a specific functionality.
What are migrations and seeders? Migrations are a way to version-control your database schema, allowing you to modify your database in a structured and organized way. Seeders are used to populate your database with sample data.
What is the fillable property, why is it important? The fillable property in Laravel is an array that specifies which attributes can be mass-assigned using the create method or mass assignment. It’s important for security to prevent unwanted fields from being updated.
How do we protect against SQL injection? Laravel’s Eloquent ORM and query builder automatically protect against SQL injection by using parameterized queries. Input values are treated as parameters rather than directly inserted into SQL statements.
What features were added to PHP recently? This would depend on the PHP version at the time of the question. For the latest features, check the PHP manual or documentation.
Do you know any design patterns? Yes, common design patterns used in Laravel include Singleton, Factory, Repository, Observer, and more.
How do you structure your Laravel projects? Laravel projects are often structured following the framework conventions, with directories for controllers, models, views, routes, and additional folders for services, repositories, or custom classes.
When would you use a queue? Queues are used in Laravel to defer the processing of a time-consuming task, making the application more responsive. Use queues when you need to handle tasks asynchronously, such as sending emails, processing images, or any task that doesn’t need to be executed immediately.
