Getting Started: What’s Installed on My PC and How to Begin PHP Laravel Development

 Ready to start your Laravel journey? Before coding, make sure you have these key tools installed on your PC:

1. WAMP Server (or any local server stack)

Why? Provides Apache, MySQL, and PHP to run your Laravel apps locally.

How to install:

• Go to https://www.wampserver.com/

• Download the latest version compatible with your system (32-bit or 64-bit)

• Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions

• After installation, launch WAMP and ensure the server is running (green icon)

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2. PHP

Why? Laravel runs on PHP, version 7.3 or higher is recommended.

How to install:

• If you use WAMP, PHP comes bundled with it.

• To check PHP version, open Command Prompt and run:

php -v

• If you want to install PHP separately, visit https://www.php.net/downloads and follow the instructions for your OS.

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3. Composer

Why? The dependency manager for PHP, used to install Laravel and packages.

How to install:

• Go to https://getcomposer.org/download/

• Download and run the Composer-Setup.exe (Windows installer)

• Follow the prompts to install globally and link it to your PHP installation

• Confirm installation by running:

composer --version

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4. Laravel Installer (optional)

Why? Quickly create new Laravel projects via command line.

How to install:

• Open your terminal/command prompt and run:

composer --version

4. Laravel Installer (optional)

Why? Quickly create new Laravel projects via command line.

How to install:

• Open your terminal/command prompt and run:

composer global require laravel/installer

• Make sure Composer's global bin directory is added to your system PATH.

• Verify by running:

laravel --version

5. Git (optional but recommended)

Why? Version control for tracking changes and collaboration.

How to install:

• Download from https://git-scm.com/downloads

• Run the installer and follow the setup steps

• Check installation with:

git --version

 

With these tools installed, you’ll have a solid foundation to develop Laravel apps efficiently.