If you want to know what to ask I’d recommend telling it you want to ensure your code is clean, single responsibility, extensible, and testable.
I think when you work with these big frameworks the more important thing as a junior imo would be to make sure you understand the underlying tech (db, network basics, etc) and the latest framework conventions. Just keep it simple.
I mean I guess I can do that, but I would prefer an actual "professional" web developer to give me advice, I mean I want to know if my code is good enough to "start" applying for jobs, and getting a code review from Claude Code would be nice if I already had a job, you know?
Right but I'm telling you that you're worrying about the wrong thing, if that makes sense.
The truth is that engineering is very opinionated, and you've picked an opinionated framework.
I don't know php/laravel, but I've worked on Rails/Elixir/etc frameworks. Having interviewed juniors in technical rounds, I'm telling you that the more important thing for you (I take it you're a fresh junior?) is to understand the framework's conventions and be able to navigate that well enough. Can you code in php? Once you're on the job, you'll find that those conventions tend to go out the door when there's actual money on the line, so the best you can do is be aware and on top of it.
Also, to be honest, without knowing php/laravel, the best I can do while I'm on my phone (take it or leave it, or use Claude/AI - I am self taught and nobody code reviewed me when I started)
- Return custom errors instead of strings. Like NotFoundError, ForbiddenError, etc. This way you have some consistency, and you can include like code, message or whatever fields for better API user experience
- If there are no Products, just return an empty list instead of a string like "No products found"
- When you delete you can just return the ID or even nothing (just a 200 OK)
- Use proper http codes. I'm not sure if laravel handles that automatically, or you need to do like 201 for create, for example.
Anyway good luck man, if you're new you're in for a world of wonder :-)
Also try any Php/Laravel Slack/Discord communities too. They will be more helpful!
Okay everything you told me lined up with what Gemini told me when I asked for a code review and gave it my code. So thank you for the advice! This totally helped me out. After I fixed all the errors (I will post the code here that I fixed) it said the code was more than ready to be a jr developer, so I guess I am going to finish my project and start applying for jobs and see what HR managers tell me... and thank you for the good luck :)
I know you don't know Laravel, but this is what I changed and told me I did a good job now, with some minor tweaks that need to be done like Laravel Form Requests for form validation
<?php
namespace App\Services;
use App\Models\Product;
use App\Models\Category;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\ModelNotFoundException;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection;
class ProductService {
public function store(array $data, string $category_id): Product {
$product_to_save = new Product([
'name' => $data['name'],
'slug' => $data['slug'],
'description' => $data['description'],
'price' => $data['price'],
'sku' => $data['sku'],
'stock_quantity' => $data['stock_quantity'],
]);
$category = Category::findOrFail($category_id);
$product = $category->products()->save($product_to_save);
return $product;
}
public function getProductsByCategory(string $category_name): Collection {
$category = Category::where('name', $category_name)->firstOrFail();
return $category->products()->with('category')->get();
}
public function detail(string $id): Product {
$product = Product::findOrFail($id);
return $product;
}
public function index(): Collection {
$product = Product::all();
if ($product->isEmpty()) {
throw (new ModelNotFoundException)->setModel(Product::class);
}
return $product;
}
public function delete(string $id){
$product = Product::findOrFail($id);
$product->delete();
return $product;
}
public function checkStock(string $id): Boolean {
$in_stock = null;
$product = Product::findOfFail($id);
$product_stock = $product->stock_quantity;
if($product_stock > 0){
$in_stock = true;
}
if($product_stock == 0){
$in_stock = false;
}
return $in_stock;
}
public function updateProductStock(string $id, int $amount): Boolean {
$product = Product::findOrFail($id);
if($amount < 0) {
return false;
} else {
$product->stock_quantity = $amount;
$product->save();
return true;
}
}
public function applyDiscount(string $id, float $percentage): Boolean {
$product = Product::findOrFail($id);
if ($percentage <= 0 || $percentage > 100) {
return false;
}
$discount_amount = $product->price * ($percentage / 100);
$new_price = $product->price - $discount_amount;
$product->price = max(0, $new_price);
$product->save();
return true;
}
public function makeProductFeatured(string $id): Boolean {
$product = Product::findOrFail($id);
$product->is_featured = true;
$product->save();
return true;
}
public function getAllFeaturedProducts(): Collection {
$featured_products = Product::where('is_featured', true)->with('category')->get();
return $featured_products;
}
}
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Services\ProductService;
use Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse;
class ProductController extends Controller
{
//
public function __construct(ProductService $productService) {
$this->productService = $productService;
}
public function store(Request $request): JsonResponse {
$category_id = $request->category_id;
$validated_data = $request->validate([
'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
'slug' => 'required|string|max:255',
'description' => 'required|string|max:255',
'price' => 'required|numeric',
'sku' => 'required|string|max:255',
'stock_quantity' => 'required|numeric',
]);
//$path = $request->file('image')->store('images', 'public');
$product = $this->productService->store($validated_data, $category_id);
return response()->json([
'product' => $product,
]);
}
public function getProductsByCategory(string $category_name): JsonResponse {
$product = $this->productService->getProductsByCategory($category_name);
return response()->json([
'products' => $product,
]);
}
public function index(): JsonResponse {
$product = $this->productService->index();
return response()->json([
'products' => $product,
]);
}
public function detail(string $id): JsonResponse {
$product = $this->productService->detail($id);
return response()->json([
'product' => $product,
]);
}
public function delete(string $id): JsonResponse {
$product = $this->productService->delete($id);
return response()->json([
'product' => $product,
]);
}
}
<?php
namespace App\Models;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToMany;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
class Product extends Model
{
//
use SoftDeletes;
protected $fillable = [
'category_id',
'name',
'slug',
'description',
'short_description',
'price',
'compare_at_price',
'sku',
'stock_quantity',
'is_featured',
'is_active',
'weight',
'dimensions',
];
public function category(): BelongsTo
{
return $this->belongsTo(Category::class);
}
public function product_images(): HasMany
{
return $this->hasMany(ProductImage::class);
}
public function reviews(): HasMany
{
return $this->hasMany(Review::class);
}
public function productskus(): HasMany
{
return $this->hasMany(ProductSku::class);
}
public function tags(): BelongsToMany
{
return $this->belongsToMany(Tag::class);
}
}
This compared to the code from code review stack overflow is a major changer I guess... Like I said everything you said and more lined up pretty clearly, of course there is always room for making the code better, but it's a start I guess...