Very few Laravel applications don’t have a data store backing them, and the vast majority are backed by a relational database like MySQL. Laravel’s built-in tooling for interacting with databases, Eloquent and the Query Builder, are powerful, flexible, easy-to-use tools that will get you moving quickly but stay flexible as your app grows.
Jonathan Reinink is the author of Eloquent Performance Patterns (https://eloquent-course.reinink.ca/) and a prolific teacher about Laravel and databases.
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Editing sponsored by Tighten; transcript sponsored by Larajobs.