[9.x] Rename firstOrNew() to firstOrMake()

[Claas Augner]

Background

There are four classes that have a firstOrNew() method:

• Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
• Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToMany
• Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasManyThrough
• Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasOneOrMany

Problem

I noticed that the naming of this method is confusing to junior devs, because it is not consistent with ::make() (which exists both on Builder and HasOneOrMany) and ::create() on the model itself. Therefore it is not obvious what ->firstOrNew() really does.

Solution

I propose to rename firstOrNew() to firstOrMake() to be consistent with the corresponding model methods. Since this is a breaking change, the transition could be made smoother by adding firstOrMake() and deprecating firstOrNew() in 9.x, and only dropping firstOrNew() in 10.x.

PS: Maybe there's an import difference between firstOrNew() and make() that justifies the different naming.