- \n
- Just-In-Time compilation<\/strong> – PHP 8 introduces\u00a02 JIT compilation engines. Tracing JIT shows about\u00a0three times better performance on synthetic benchmarks and 1.5\u20132 times improvement on some specificed long-running applications. Typical application performance is on par with PHP 7.4.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Type-System and Error Handling Improvements<\/strong> \u2013 PHP 8.0 has strict type checks for arithmetic\/bitwise operators RFC. This includes: (1) Abstract trait method (2) Correct signatures of magic methods (3) Reclassified engine warnings (4) Fatal error for an incompatible method (5) @ is not useful in case of fatal errors (6) Inheritance with private methods (7) Mixed type (8) Static return type (9) Types for internal functions Email thread – Opaque objects instead of resources for Curl, OpenSSL, Gd, XMLWriter, XML extensions and Sockets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Improvements: In PHP 8<\/h2>\n
PHP 8.0 is faster than PHP 7.3\/7.4. At most 65% of websites including Facebook, Wikipedia, WordPress support PHP.\u00a0\u00a0 It features improvements in \u2013<\/p>\n
(1) named arguments,<\/p>\n
(2) union types,<\/p>\n
(3) constructor property promotion,<\/p>\n
(4) constructor,<\/p>\n
(5) match expression,<\/p>\n
(6) JIT,<\/p>\n
(7) null-safe operator,<\/p>\n
(8) error handling,<\/p>\n
(9) improvements in the type system,<\/p>\n
(10) better performance,<\/p>\n
(11) consistency,<\/p>\n
(12) type safety and better syntax.<\/p>\n
(13) A trailing comma in parameter lists RFC and closure use lists RFC,<\/p>\n
(14) Non-capturing catches RFC,<\/p>\n
(15) Variable Syntax Tweaks RFC,<\/p>\n
(16) Treat namespaced names as single token RFC,<\/p>\n
(17) Throw is now an expression RFC,<\/p>\n
(18) Allow ::class on objects RFC,<\/p>\n
(19) New Classes, Interfaces, and Functions \u2013 (i) Weak Map class, (ii) Stringable interface, (iii) str_contains(),<\/span> str_starts_with()<\/span>, str_ends_with()<\/span>, (iv) fdiv()<\/span>,\u00a0 (v) \u00a0\u00a0get_debug_type()<\/span>,\u00a0 (vi) get_resource_id()<\/span>, (vii) token_get_all()<\/span> object implementation, (viii) \u00a0New DOM Traversal and Manipulation APIs<\/p>\n
Prominent Applications: Companies Using PHP<\/h2>\n
PHP is being used by many famous companies like (1) Facebook, (2) Slack, (3) Wikipedia, (4) Hootsuite, (5) 9GAG, (6) Vimeo, (7) Tesla and (8) WordPress etc.<\/p>\n
Technology Stack: Used by Major Companies<\/h2>\n
Facebook Technology Stack<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- PHP, ReactJS, Cassandra, Graphql, Hive<\/li>\n
- DevOps: Jenkins, Datadog, Chef<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hootsuite Technology Stack<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- PHP, JQuery, Bootstrap, MySQL, AWS, MongoDB, Kafka, Scala<\/li>\n
- DevOps: Jenkins, Docker, Github<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
9Gag Technology Stack<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- PHP, Laravel, VueJS, JavaScript, NgINX, Scala, AWS S3, Python, Scala, Java<\/li>\n
- DevOps: GitHub, Datadog, Docker<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Backwards Compatibility: Feature Support<\/h2>\n
If an attribute is used in its line, PHP 8.0 will not cause an error. PHP ignores those attributes. Previous versions of PHP (7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4) feature support for (1) typed properties, (2) support for arrow functions, (3) covariant returns, (4) contravarian parameters, (5) coalescence assignment operator support, (6) support for weak references, (7) preloading, (8) propagation operator in array expression and (9) deprecations.<\/p>\n
Trends: PHP Trends in 2021<\/h2>\n
PHP is and will remain one of the basic building blocks of web development. Coming together with third-party frameworks, PHP accounts for robust and productive applications.<\/p>\n
Best PHP frameworks in 2021 are (1) Laravel, (2) Phalcon, (3) Symfony, (4) CodeIgniter, (5) CakePHP, (6) Yii, (7) Slim Framework and (8) Lumen.<\/p>\n
PHP works wonders with CMS like WordPress and Drupal.<\/p>\n
Developers choose PHP frameworks<\/a> based on performance, security, advanced features, and the level of community support. If all this in place, it becomes easier to check with upcoming PHP features and build a web application likewise.<\/p>\n
Differences PHP 7 vs. PHP 8<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n
\n Differences<\/strong><\/th>\n Description<\/strong><\/th>\n PHP 7<\/strong><\/th>\n PHP 8<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n Named Arguments<\/td>\n Arguments, parameters are order-dependent, self-documented.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"named](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/named-arguments.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"named](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/named-arguments-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Attributes<\/td>\n We can now use structured metadata with PHP\u2019s native syntax instead of PHPDoc annotations.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"attributes\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/attributes.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"attributes\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/attributes-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Constructor Property<\/td>\n Less repetitive code sections to define and initialize properties.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"constructor](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/constructor-property.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"constructor](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/constructor-property-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Union Types<\/td>\n Use of Native union type declarations instead of PHPDoc annotations for a combination of types validated at runtime.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"union](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/union-types.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"union](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/union-types-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Match Expression<\/td>\n The result of a match expression is stored in a variable. \u2018Match\u2019 (1) Performs strict comparisons,<\/p>\n (2) Supports single-line expressions,<\/p>\n
(3) Does not need a break.<\/td>\n
\u00a0 ![\"match](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/match-expression.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"match](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/match-expression-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Nullsafe operator<\/td>\n Instead of null check conditions, you can now use a chain of calls with the new null safe operator. When the evaluation of one element in the chain fails, the execution of the entire chain aborts and the entire chain evaluates to null.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"nullsafe](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Nullsafe-operator.png\")
}<\/p>\n}<\/td>\n
$country\u00a0=\u00a0$session?->user?->getAddress()?->country;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n String to number comparisons<\/td>\n PHP 8 uses a number comparison, while comparing to a numeric string.<\/td>\n 0 ==’foobar’ \/\/ true<\/td>\n \u00a00\u00a0==’foobar’ \/\/\u00a0false<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Consistent type errors for internal functions<\/td>\n The internal functions throw an Error exception in case the validation of the parameters fails.<\/td>\n \u00a0 ![\"consistent](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/consistent-type-errors.png\")
<\/td>\n\u00a0 ![\"consistent](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/consistent-type-errors-1.png\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\nAs we go ahead, exploring the migration from PHP 7.4.x to PHP 8.0.x, the enhancements include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The WeakMap class<\/li>\n
- ValueError class<\/li>\n
- Variadic arguments now replace function parameters (with compatible types)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"other](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/other-feature.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- Static (Late state binding) is now used as a return type<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"other](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/other-feature-1.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- Fetch the class name of an object by using $object::class. It gives the same result as get_class($object).<\/li>\n
- new (expression)(…$args) and $obj instance of (expression) replace new and instance of<\/li>\n
- minor consistency fixes to variable syntax e.g. We cannot write Foo::BAR::$baz<\/li>\n
- A class defined with __toString() method brings in a Stringable interface automatically.<\/li>\n
- Traits define abstract private methods.<\/li>\n
- The throw becomes an expression in PHP 8.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"other](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/other-feature-2.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- The parameter list allows commas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"other](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/other-feature-3.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- PHP 8 enables catching an exception without storing it in a variable.<\/li>\n
- PHP 8 supports mixed types<\/li>\n
- Private methods declared within parent class do not enforce inheritance of child class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"other](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/other-feature-4.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- get_resource_id()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 returns the same value as (int) $resource<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Date and Time<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
DateTime::createFromInterface()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0DateTimeImmutable::createFromInterface()<\/span><\/em> for DateTime format specifier\u00a0p\u00a0– same as\u00a0P\u00a0but returns\u00a0Z\u00a0rather than\u00a0+00:00\u00a0for UTC.<\/p>\n
- \n
- DOM<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
DOMParentNode<\/span><\/em> and DOMChildNode<\/span><\/em> now come with a new traversal and manipulation API.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Filter<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN<\/span><\/em> is now known as FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOL<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Enchant<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
enchant_dict_add()<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0enchant_dict_is_added()<\/span><\/em>, and\u00a0LIBENCHANT_VERSION<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- FPM<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It comes with pm.status_listen<\/span><\/em>\u00a0to get status from different endpoints (port or UDS file).<\/p>\n
- \n
- Hash<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
HashContext<\/span> objects are now serializable.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Internationalization Functions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some constants are added like<\/p>\n
![\"internationalization-functions\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/internationalization-functions.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- LDAP<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It now has ldap_count_references()<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n
- \n
- OPcache<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"opcache\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/opcache.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- OpenSSL<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It comes with Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) with addition of new encoding constants:\u00a0OPENSSL_ENCODING_DER,\u00a0OPENSSL_ENCODING_SMIME\u00a0and\u00a0OPENSSL_ENCODING_PEM:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
- \n
- openssl_cms_encrypt()<\/span> <\/em>\u2013 to encrypt messages in the file.<\/li>\n
- openssl_cms_decrypt()<\/span><\/em> \u2013 to decrypt the S\/MIME message.<\/li>\n
- openssl_cms_read()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 to export the CMS file to an array of PEM certificates.<\/li>\n
- openssl_cms_sign()<\/span><\/em> \u2013 to sign the MIME message in the file with cert key and output to supplied file.<\/li>\n
- openssl_cms_verify()<\/span><\/em> \u2013 to verify that data block is intact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Regular Expressions (Perl-Compatible)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It comes with preg_last_error_msg()<\/span><\/em> and complements preg_last_error() <\/span><\/em>which retruns an integer enum value.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Reflection<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A few methods return default values of parameters\/internal functions<\/p>\n
![\"reflection\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/reflection.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- SQLite3<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
SQLite3::setAuthorizer()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and respective class constants are added to userland callback.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Standard Library<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Following methods come along with some changes:<\/p>\n
![\"standard](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/standard-library.png\")
![\"standard](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/standard-library-1.png\")
<\/><\/p>\n- \n
- Tokenizer<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
PHP 8 comes with a tokenizer appended to PHPToken. It provides a uniform and ergonomic representation being memory efficient and quick.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Zip<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It comes with multiple updates (version 1.19.1)<\/p>\n
![\"zip\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/zip.png\")
<\/p>\nBackward Incompatible Changes<\/h2>\n
- \n
- Following methods come with slight changes \u2013 MBString, LDAP, IMAP, Internationalization Functions, Iconv, GMP, GD, Filter, Exif, Enchant, DOM, Date and Time, CURL, COM and .Net (Windows), and Resource to Object Migration.<\/li>\n
- Several notices are convertible into warnings<\/li>\n
- number of warnings are convertible into Error exceptions<\/li>\n
- No need to define case-insensitive constants now.<\/li>\n
- The match is now a reserved keyword<\/li>\n
- track_errors ini directives are not in use.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
OCI8<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- OCILob<\/span><\/em> is the new name for OCI-Lob\u00a0class. OCICollection<\/span><\/em> is the new name for the\u00a0OCI-Collection\u00a0class.<\/li>\n
- PHP 8 deprecates alias functions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
ODBC<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- The unused flags parameter of odbc_exec()<\/span><\/em> is not in use.<\/li>\n
- odbc_connect()<\/span><\/em> does not reuse connections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
OpenSSL<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- openssl_seal()<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0openssl_open()<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>now require method.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Regular Expressions (Perl-Compatible)<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Ignore X-modifier; invalid escape sequences are not interpretable as literals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
PHP Data Objects\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- “exceptions” replaces “Error handling”<\/span> mode. It comes with changes to some PDO methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
PDO ODBC<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- \u2018pdo_odbc.db2_instance_name\u2019,<\/span><\/em> the PHP.ini directive no longer exists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
PDO MySQL<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- PDO::inTransaction()<\/span> reports an actual transaction state of the connection rather than an approximation maintained by PDO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
PostgreSQL<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- pg_connect()<\/span>\u00a0syntax, pg_lo_import()<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0pg_lo_export()<\/span>\u00a0signature \u2013 is not supported.<\/li>\n
- pg_fetch_all()<\/span>\u00a0will now return an empty array instead of false for zero rows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Phar\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Phar metadata will not auto-unserialize<\/em> owing to security vulnerabilities due to object instantiation, auto-loading etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Reflection\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"reflection\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/reflection-1.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- PHP 7 and PHP 8 codes make use of these signatures:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"reflection\"](\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/reflection-2.png\")
<\/p>\n- \n
- ReflectionType::__toString()<\/span><\/em> now returns a complete debug representation of the type. The results will contain a nullability indicator for nullable types. (The return value depends on PHP version)<\/li>\n
- Reflection objects can cast to string instead of Reflection export() which does not exist.<\/li>\n
- ReflectionMethod::isConstructor()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0ReflectionMethod::isDestructor()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0returns true for construct() and destruct() methods of interfaces.<\/li>\n
- ReflectionNamedType<\/span><\/em> replaces ReflectionType::isBuiltin()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0method.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sockets\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- PHP 8 does not support AI_IDN_ALLOW_UNASSIGNED\u00a0and\u00a0AI_IDN_USE_STD3_ASCII_RULES<\/span><\/em>\u00a0flags\u00a0for\u00a0socket_addrinfo_lookup()<\/span><\/em> any more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Standard PHP Library (SPL)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
- ReflectionType::__toString()<\/span><\/em> now returns a complete debug representation of the type. The results will contain a nullability indicator for nullable types. (The return value depends on PHP version)<\/li>\n
- PHP 7 and PHP 8 codes make use of these signatures:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- pg_fetch_all()<\/span>\u00a0will now return an empty array instead of false for zero rows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- pg_connect()<\/span>\u00a0syntax, pg_lo_import()<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0pg_lo_export()<\/span>\u00a0signature \u2013 is not supported.<\/li>\n
- PDO::inTransaction()<\/span> reports an actual transaction state of the connection rather than an approximation maintained by PDO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \u2018pdo_odbc.db2_instance_name\u2019,<\/span><\/em> the PHP.ini directive no longer exists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- “exceptions” replaces “Error handling”<\/span> mode. It comes with changes to some PDO methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Ignore X-modifier; invalid escape sequences are not interpretable as literals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- odbc_connect()<\/span><\/em> does not reuse connections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- PHP 8 deprecates alias functions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- OCILob<\/span><\/em> is the new name for OCI-Lob\u00a0class. OCICollection<\/span><\/em> is the new name for the\u00a0OCI-Collection\u00a0class.<\/li>\n
- Zip<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Tokenizer<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Standard Library<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- SQLite3<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Reflection<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- openssl_cms_decrypt()<\/span><\/em> \u2013 to decrypt the S\/MIME message.<\/li>\n
- openssl_cms_encrypt()<\/span> <\/em>\u2013 to encrypt messages in the file.<\/li>\n
- OpenSSL<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- OPcache<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- LDAP<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Internationalization Functions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Hash<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- FPM<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Enchant<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Filter<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- DOM<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Date and Time<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- get_resource_id()<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 returns the same value as (int) $resource<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The parameter list allows commas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Static (Late state binding) is now used as a return type<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Type-System and Error Handling Improvements<\/strong> \u2013 PHP 8.0 has strict type checks for arithmetic\/bitwise operators RFC. This includes: (1) Abstract trait method (2) Correct signatures of magic methods (3) Reclassified engine warnings (4) Fatal error for an incompatible method (5) @ is not useful in case of fatal errors (6) Inheritance with private methods (7) Mixed type (8) Static return type (9) Types for internal functions Email thread – Opaque objects instead of resources for Curl, OpenSSL, Gd, XMLWriter, XML extensions and Sockets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n