The PHP web development scripting language has been updated to Version 7.0. The update is extensive and represents the biggest change to the software for around seven years.
Established in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf,
PHP is managed by The PHP Group. It has had a revolutionary impact on the internet, being the language of choice for solutions like WordPress and Joomla - Open Source CMS solutions that have made the internet accessible to non-technical people who want to develop websites. It has also proved extremely popular with programmers who design websites from scratch using code. As a result, it has been utilized to underpin over 200 million websites around the internet.
The recent update has been the first since the release of version 5.0 in 2004. Alongside other enhancements, the update has been focused on improving the software’s performance and reducing its memory usage requirement. According to a number of sources, WordPress websites (25.4% of all website) and Joomla (50 million plus downloads) will not be impacted by the upgrade.
Although the new version is significantly different to previous iterations, PHP 7.0 developers have gone to great pains to make transition trouble free. Despite this, developers have been recommended to test all code before finally moving to the new version. Moving to the new version is then likely to take some time.
What are your thoughts about the new PHP version? Add your comments below.
