You may be a website owner or a website developer. You may be using PHP enabled CMS such as Drupal, WordPress, Magento or Joomla. If so, then the good news for you is that fully featured and complete version of PHP 7 has been released. The Major release 7.0.0 is loaded with amazing features and we have tried to list them here for you.

Its PHP version 7:

The Current Stable Version of PHP Framework is PHP 5.6. The Development Team have decided they would name the next major release as PHP 7 framework. This is because PHP 6 was already there in the past as an experimental project which never reached the official production phase. So to save the developers from any misconception about the several versions, it would be named as PHP 7.

The New Zend Engine:

Zend Engine is powering PHP since 1999 when it was first introduced with the PHP Version 4. Zend is different from Zend framework and is an Execution Engine written in C that is used to interpret PHP Language. The current version 5.x uses Zend Engine II that is much improved and enhanced version of the predecessor engine. It also adds an extensive Object Model and a significant move towards performance enhancement. PHP 7 is based on a brand new version of the engine labeled as PHPNG (Next Generation)

Blazing speeds up to 2 times faster:

The best and key feature of PHPNG engine is the significant performance boost it offers. The development team behind the engine have re-engineered the Zend Engine optimizing the memory usage. But what about the results? If we look at the performance benchmark results provided by the Zend Engines Performance team, then it is evident that PHP 7 will make your code to run faster and also, fewer servers are needed to cater the same amount of users.

Error Handling:

Handling of Fatal errors has never been an easy task for developers and coders. The new Engine based Exceptions will enable them to replace these errors and exceptions and if no exception is detected, then PHP will return a fatal error just like it does in 5.x versions.

This new \EngineException object doesn’t extend the \Exception Base Class. The new architecture results in 2 types of exceptions for error handling i.e. Traditional and Engine Based Exceptions. So for the developers to detect both of these, PHP 7 features a new shared Parent Class under the label of \BaseException.

Supports 64-Bit Architecture:

PHP at hearts is a member of LAMP Stacks so this implies that its Native Environment is Linux, but it can run on Windows Platform as well. However, there is no support for 64-Bit Architecture, integers and for large file formats in 5.x versions and any X64 builds till now are considered as Experimental. But PHP 7 is set to change this and it will support 64 Bit integers and large files. This will enable developers to run the framework on 64-Bit Windows Computers as well.

The Null Coalescing Operators and Spaceships Operators:

The Official name of Spaceship Operator is Combined Comparison Operator. The format of this operator is <=>. As you can see it resembles a spaceship and thus the name. This operator returns 0 if both operands are equal, -1 if the right side is greater and +1 if the left side is greater. It is also available on other programming languages like Ruby and Pearl and is called Three-Way Comparison Operator.

Another useful operator is the Null Coalescing Operator and is represented by two question marks (??). It is used when the coder wants to check if something exists and if it doesn’t a default value is returned. Coalesce Operator returns the result of the first Operand if it exists and when it is not null and it returns the second operand in all other cases.

The accuracy of Declarations:

The PHP 7 enables developers to boost the quality of their code by using the Return Type Declaration, Developers want to prevent unintended return values by declaring the Return type of the declaration. PHP 7 has enhanced this feature even more by introducing 4 New Types of Declarations for Scalar Types, Float, Int, Bool, and String. This New Scalar type enables Developers to denote what they are expecting as a return (Integers, Strings, Booleans or floats). These new Scalar types in PHP 7 will also be supported by Argument type Hints that allow developers to force the type of parameters in PHP 5.x version.

Addition of Anonymous Classes:

PHP 7 incorporates the use of Anonymous Classes. Which is a Well-Established practice in other Object-Oriented Languages like C# and Java. This Anonymous Class is a Class without a name. The Object it represents has the same functionality as the object of a named class.

The format here is the same as that used in traditional PHP Classes, just the name is missing. If these Anonymous Classes are used properly, then they can speed up the coding process and the time needed for execution as well. These Anonymous Classes are perfect when a class is only used once during execution and also where class does not need to be documented.

Imports from the same Namespace:

Many Developers and Coders want to import classes from the same namespaces. The new Group Use Declaration feature would be a blessing for these developers. This new Syntax makes the code easier, simpler and tidier. This also saves typing time and effort. It also simplifies the review and debugging process for the Codes.

Clearing up Space:

The main objective of PHP 7 was to free up space in order to enhance performance. There was a need to get rid of unwanted functionalities and Unsupported Server APIs and Extensions. These removed items were also deprecated in PHP Version 5 so most likely you have not used them in a long time. However, if your application is running on an older PHP Version then PHP 7 can break the code.

So there you have it, a list of some of the top advantages and features of PHP 7. We hope this will save you time and effort.

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