In this conversation, Ben interviews Taylor Otwell, the creator of Laravel. They discuss everything from the age-old argument of tabs vs. spaces to the origins of Laravel and how Taylor has turned it into a thriving, sustainable business.

Links:
Laravel, the framework Taylor created
Tuple, used by the Laravel team to collaborates

Takeaways

Coding preferences and philosophies can vary among developers and programming ecosystems.
Maintaining backwards compatibility is important for frameworks with a large user base.
Clean code can be subjective and depends on the specific needs and goals of a project.
Testing is crucial for shipping software with confidence. When starting a new project, consider writing documentation first to iron out any potential issues and ensure a user-centric perspective.
Focus on high-level testing, such as feature-level or controller-level tests, to gain confidence in the functionality of your code.
Challenge assumptions and ask questions to improve the quality of your code and avoid unnecessary complexity.
Believe in the potential of your project and raise your ambitions to achieve greater success.
Building a business around open source can be a sustainable model if you create commercial products that complement and support the open source project.

Chapters

(00:00) - Tabs or Spaces?
(08:00) - Shells
(10:46) - Minimalism in Coding
(17:24) - Stripe and Their API
(22:41) - Aesthetics
(25:09) - A Coding Hill You Would Die On
(28:09) - Clean Code
(33:38) - Testing
(40:30) - Personal Involvement With Code
(45:00) - Notes and Manifestos
(49:09) - Skill Over Time
(51:49) - Ian Landsman and Laravel
(55:49) - Businesses Based on Open Source

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