Elevating Legacy: A Case Study on the migration from Laravel 4 to 9 - Dave Liddament

Learn from a real-world case study on migrating from Laravel 4 to 9, exploring the importance of planning, code improvement, automated tools, and stakeholder management for a successful upgrade.

Key takeaways
  • The importance of planning and preparation before migrating from Laravel 4 to 9
  • The use of a code prehabilitation process to improve code quality, including removing unused code and decoupling dependencies
  • The value of using various tools and libraries, such as Rector, to automate the upgrade process and reduce manual labor
  • The need to understand and refactor legacy code, including identifying and renaming methods, and updating deprecated functions
  • The importance of providing full test coverage and continuous integration to ensure the success of the upgrade process
  • The use of abstract syntax trees (ASTs) to represent and refactor PHP code
  • The importance of communication and stakeholder management during the upgrade process
  • The value of breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces
  • The use of automated tools and scripts to simplify the upgrade process and reduce manual labor
  • The importance of version control and release management during the upgrade process
  • The value of continuous learning and professional development in staying up-to-date with the latest PHP versions and frameworks.