What is a Front Controller design pattern?

A Front Controller is a single entry point (usually one PHP file like index.php) that handles all incoming HTTP requests to your application.

Instead of having multiple entry points (e.g., one script per page), you have one centralized file that:

Receives the request
Initializes the framework
Routes the request to the right controller or action
Returns the response

Example in Laravel or CodeIgniter:

The public/index.php file is the front controller.
All routes (e.g., /about, /contact, etc.) are routed through this one file.
URL rewriting (via .htaccess or Nginx rules) sends every request to index.php.

🎯 Why Use the Front Controller Pattern?

Centralized control over request handling
Easier to implement routing, middleware, logging, authentication
More secure, since it avoids direct access to internal files
Consistent request lifecycle (start → middleware → controller → response)

❓What happens if we don’t use the Front Controller pattern?

If you don’t use the front controller pattern, you fall back to what’s called the Page Controller pattern — where each page has its own PHP script as an entry point.

🔧 Example:

/about.php
/contact.php
/products.php

Each of these files:

Handles its own logic
Loads its own models and views
Responds to a specific URL

🆚 Front Controller vs Page Controller

Feature	Page Controller	Front Controller
Entry Point	One script per page (`about.php`, etc.)	One script (`index.php`) for all routes
Routing	Manual via filenames or `.php` URLs	Centralized and dynamic
Reusability	Low (duplicate code)	High (middleware, unified logic)
Maintainability	Harder in large apps	Much easier in large apps
Middleware Support	Not built-in	Easy to add (auth, logging, etc.)
Modern Framework Use	Rarely used	Used by Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, etc.