PHP new features by each major version from PHP 5.3 to PHP 5.6

1. PHP v5.3+ FEATURES
Michael Bui
(FB & TW: MichaelBui2812)

2. PHP v5.3
● “ereg” deprecated
● SPL always enabled
● Reflection always enabled
● Magic methods
○ __invoke()
○ __callStatic()
● Performance improved

3. PHP v5.3
● Namespace
○ PSR-0
○ Composer
○ For classes, functions and constants
● Import classes
○ “use” keyword
○ relative & absolute namespaces
● Closures

4. PHP v5.4
● PHP_BINARY constant
● Array to string conversions will trigger
a notice
● Array callbacks:
○ [$obj, ‘method’]
○ [‘ClassName’, ‘method’]
● Memory & performance improved

5. PHP v5.4
● Traits
○ “compiler level” copy-n-paste (literally)
○ “insteadof” & “as” to solve collisions
● Closures
○ Support “$this”
○ Re-bind “$this”
● Short echo tags “<?=...?>” always work
● Binary numbers (0b...)

6. PHP v5.4 (Cont.)
● Short array syntax:
○ [‘a’=>1,’b’=>2] === array(‘a’=>1,’b’=>2)
○ Array dereferencing: getArray()[0];
● Initiation time access
○ (new Classname())->method()
● Dynamic method calls:
○ ClassName::{$var}()
○ (new ClassName())->{$var}()

7. PHP v5.5
● RegExp /e modifier deprecated
● Mysql extension officially deprecated
● boolval()
● empty() support any expression
● OPCache built-in

8. PHP v5.5
● “finally” supported
● Fully qualified classname constant
○ ClassName::CLASS
● Literal Dereferencing
○ [‘a’,’b’,’c’][1] will return ‘b’
● “foreach” support “list()”
○ foreach ($records as list($name, $email)) {}
● Generators & Co-routines

9. PHP v5.6
● Import functions & constants
○ use function NameSpacedmethod;
○ use const NameSpacedCONSTANT;
● Scalar expressions supported in
○ Constants: const FOO = self::BAR . “!”;
○ Class properties: public $a = 1 + 1;
○ Function arguments: function f($a = 1 + 1) {}
○ …
● __debugInfo()

10. PHP v5.6 (cont.)
● Variadic functions
○ Referencing
○ Type hinting
● Argument unpacking
● Exponent operator (**)
● Upload more than 2GB

11. ONE MORE THING...

12. THANK YOU!
Michael Bui
(FB & TW: MichaelBui2812)