PHP & Laravel Development Environment Setup

This guide provides a step-by-step process to set up a productive PHP and Laravel development environment.

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Essential Software

1. XAMPP
   A free and open-source cross-platform web server solution stack package.

2. Node.js (LTS version)
   A JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine.

3. Composer
   A tool for dependency management in PHP.

4. Git
   A distributed version control system.

5. Visual Studio Code
   A free and lightweight code editor with robust features and extensions.

6. PHPStorm
   A paid IDE with extensive support for PHP and Laravel.

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Database Client Software

1. dbForge Studio for MySQL
   A powerful MySQL and MariaDB GUI tool for database development and management.

2. TablePlus
   A modern, native database client for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more.

3. HeidiSQL
   A lightweight database management tool for MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL.

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Recommended VS Code Extensions

1. PHP Intelephense
   Provides intelligent code completion, diagnostics, and more for PHP.

2. PHP DocBlocker
   Generates PHPDoc blocks for your code.

3. PHP Namespace Resolver
   Automatically imports and resolves PHP namespaces.

4. Laravel Blade Snippets
   Syntax highlighting and snippets for Laravel Blade templates.

5. Laravel Snippets
   Offers various Laravel code snippets for faster development.

6. Laravel Artisan
   Quickly run Artisan commands from within VS Code.

7. Laravel Extra Intellisense
   Provides additional Intellisense features for Laravel projects.

8. Laravel Goto View
   Quickly navigate between controllers and their corresponding Blade views.

9. Laravel Blade Spacer
   Automatically formats Blade template spacing.

10. Laravel Jump Controller
    Navigate from routes or views directly to their controller.

11. Laravel Goto Components
    Simplifies navigation to Blade components.

12. Laravel Blade Formatter
    Formats Blade files for better readability.

13. Laravel Create View
    Easily create new Blade view files directly from your code.

14. DotENV
    Syntax highlighting for .env files.

15. ESLint
    Ensures consistent coding style and catches errors for JavaScript and TypeScript.

16. Prettier - Code Formatter
    Formats your code according to predefined style rules.

17. MySQL - Database Client
    Manage and query your MySQL database directly from VS Code.

18. Auto Close Tag
    Automatically closes HTML and XML tags.

19. Auto Rename Tag
    Automatically renames paired HTML/XML tags.

20. Material Icon Theme
    Provides clean and modern icons for VS Code.

21. Night Owl Theme
    A visually appealing dark theme for coding.

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Fonts for Developers

1. Operator Mono
   A popular choice among developers for its clean and professional look.

2. Fira Code
   A free font with programming ligatures to enhance readability.

3. Dank Mono
   A modern and stylish font designed for coding.

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This setup is designed to streamline your workflow and enhance productivity when working with PHP and Laravel projects.