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Pains and Gains of Upgrading PHP

Lorna Mitchell
December 03, 2013

Pains and Gains of Upgrading PHP

Features and improvements of PHP versions 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5, along with some performance information and tips for upgrading to the latest and greatest.

Lorna Mitchell

December 03, 2013
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  1. About Recent Versions of PHP Version Released End of Life

    5.2 November 2006 January 2011 5.3 June 2009 July 2014 5.4 March 2012 Release + 3 years 5.5 June 2013 Release + 3 years
  2. Not All Upgrades Are Equal • to 5.3: climbing a

    mountain • to 5.4: flying leap • to 5.5: nobody will notice
  3. PHP Namespaces Namespaces allow modularity and separation • classes, constants

    and functions belong in namespaces • namespaces can be nested • much easier pick-and-mix of frameworks/libraries • avoids naming collision • key ingredient for PSR-0
  4. Namespaced Library File <?php namespace Lorna; class Nonsense { protected

    $words = array("wibble", "squeak", "howl", "pop"); public function speak() { return $this->words[ array_rand($this->words)]; } }
  5. Namespaced Calling Code <?php include 'lorna/nonsense.php'; use Lorna\Nonsense; $nsense =

    new Nonsense(); echo $nsense->speak(); $other = new \StdClass();
  6. Anonymous Functions <?php $things = array("name" => "Alice", "colour" =>

    "Blue", "origin" => "Dreams"); function formatit($value, $key) { echo $key . ": " . $value . "\n"; } array_walk($things, "formatit");
  7. Anonymous Functions <?php $things = array("name" => "Alice", "colour" =>

    "Blue", "origin" => "Dreams"); array_walk($things, function ($value, $key) { echo $key . ": " . $value . "\n"; });
  8. PHP 5.3 is Full of Goodness • namespaces • anonymous

    functions • better DateTime • SPL data structures • works on Windows • E_DEPRECATED error reporting level • late static binding • __DIR__
  9. Upgrading to 5.3: Gotchas new reserved words: namespace, goto log

    message changes requires MySQL > 4.1 full info: http://lrnja.net/ZpvknE (php.net)
  10. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved

    performance, reduced memory footprint
  11. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved

    performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver
  12. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved

    performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • traits
  13. Simple Traits Example <?php trait Audit { public function getAuditTrail()

    { return "nothing changed"; } } class Princess { use Audit; // General princess class description: // soldering, tree climbing, the usual }
  14. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved

    performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • short array notation, array dereferencing
  15. Short Array Notation <?php $game[0] = 'paper'; $game[1] = 'scissors';

    $game[2] = 'stone'; $game = array(0 => 'stone', 1 => 'paper', 2 => 'scissors'); $game = [0 => 'scissors', 1 => 'stone', 2 => 'paper'];
  16. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved

    performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • traits • short array notation, array dereferencing • less nonsense
  17. Upgrading to PHP 5.4: Gotchas new reserved words: trait callable

    insteadof no register_globals, short open tag etc turn on E_DEPRECATED on your 5.3 platform compile PHP 5.4 and use the webserver
  18. Upgrading to PHP 5.4: Gotchas new reserved words: trait callable

    insteadof no register_globals, short open tag etc turn on E_DEPRECATED on your 5.3 platform compile PHP 5.4 and use the webserver beware APC issues
  19. Easy Password Hashing <?php $pass = "secretpassword"; $hashed = password_hash($pass,

    PASSWORD_DEFAULT); echo $hashed; $2y$10$Q7Rm.Cmcu4lbvI7.C2q4Z.1LLoh4C63vBSffl
  20. Easy Password Hashing <?php $existing_hash = '$2y$10$Q7Rm.Cmcu4lbvI7.C2q4Z.1LLoh4C $pass = "secretpassword";

    if(password_verify($pass, $existing_hash)) echo "All good"; else echo "Go away"; For PHP < 5.5: http://github.com/ircmaxell/password_compat
  21. PHP Generators Simpler than iterators - a function returning a

    sequence of values. <?php function getValues() { // totally trivial example yield "Apple"; yield "Ball"; yield "Cat"; }
  22. PHP Generators Simpler than iterators - a function returning a

    sequence of values. <?php $stuff = getValues(); foreach($stuff as $thing) { echo $thing . "\n"; }
  23. Try/Catch/Finally Finally is a clause that always gets run <?php

    try{ $fp = fopen("textfile.txt", "w+"); // do stuff } catch (Exception $e) { echo "Stuff went wrong"; } finally { // either way, close the file fclose($fp); }
  24. PHP 5.5: Better Again • password hashing features • generators

    • try/catch/finally • built-in opcode cache • Turn on opcache.enable and opcache.enable_cli • use APCu https://github.com/krakjoe/apcu
  25. Upgrading to PHP 5.5 • turn on E_DEPRECATED on your

    5.4 platform • compile PHP 5.5 and use the webserver
  26. General Upgrade Plan • check the changelog: http://php.net/ChangeLog-5.php • turn

    on E_DEPRECATED • test with the webserver, run unit tests with new binary • upgrade test platform • pecl extensions will need a reinstall • go for it :)
  27. PHP Version Adoption • Version 5.3 52.2% • Version 5.2

    35.3% • Version 5.4 9.8% • Version 5.1 1.9% • Version 5.5 0.7% • Version 5.0 0.1% • Version 5.6 < 0.1% (From http://w3techs.com, 1 December 2013)
  28. PHP Performance Comparisons Average time to run bench.php on my

    laptop • 5.2.17: 3.77 seconds • 5.3.23: 2.63 seconds • 5.4.15: 1.98 seconds • 5.5RC1: 2.11 seconds