Hi @skinnyvin,

Laravel 4.2 is now by default set in production mode, instead you can set your machine name or whatever you want in your bootstrap/start.php and $app->detectEnvironment. You can refer to Laravel documentation.

Laravel also provide a User class which is used by default.

So yes you're doing things right :).

Thanks for the reply. The quickstart was perhaps not the best place for me then as it threw me.

Is Dayle Rees' Code Bright the best place to start for a newbie? I have a limited understanding of MVC and am not greatly conversant with Oop.

I can see there is a lot of info about Laravel available - but a lot of it is conflicting and makes assumptions that you already use x,y,z (git,composer,virtualbox etc).

I'm not sure that this book is the best place to learn basic principles of oop and MVC pattern. BUT you can still check it and find some tutorials on the web like Laracasts or anything else.