Upgrading PHP

Slide deck for DrupalCampScot and phpDay, although the talks themselves were quite different!

Transcript

1. Pains and Gains of PHP Upgrades Lorna Mitchell, May 2014
2. 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 5.6 Soon Release + 3 years
3. Current PHP Installations
4. Pains of Upgrades • cost (time and money) • risk
5. Gains of Upgrades • shiny new features • better security • better performance
6. Not All Upgrades Are Equal • to 5.3: climbing a mountain • to 5.4: flying leap • to 5.5: nobody will notice • to 5.6: another anticlimax
7. to PHP 5.3
8. PHP 5.3 is Full of Goodness • namespaces
9. 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
10. 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)]; } }
11. Namespaced Calling Code <?php include 'lorna/nonsense.php'; use Lorna\Nonsense; $nsense = new Nonsense(); echo $nsense->speak(); $other = new \StdClass();
12. PHP 5.3 is Full of Goodness • namespaces • anonymous functions
13. Anonymous Functions <?php $things = array("name" => "Alice", "colour" => "Blue", "origin" => "Dreams"); function formatit($value, $key) { echo $key . ": " . $value . "\n"; } array_walk($things, "formatit");
14. Anonymous Functions <?php $things = array("name" => "Alice", "colour" => "Blue", "origin" => "Dreams"); array_walk($things, function ($value, $key) { echo $key . ": " . $value . "\n"; });
15. 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__
16. 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)
17. to PHP 5.4
18. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved performance, reduced memory footprint
19. PHP Performance
20. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver
21. PHP's Own Webserver php -S dev.project.local:8080 -t /var/www/cool-project/web -c php-ini.development routing.php
22. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • traits
23. 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 }
24. Simple Traits Example <?php $daisy = new Princess(); echo $daisy->getAuditTrail();
25. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • short array notation, array dereferencing
26. 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'];
27. PHP 5.4 is a Leap to the Future • improved performance, reduced memory footprint • built-in webserver • short array notation, array dereferencing • echo shortcut always available
28. PHP 5.4 Echo Shortcut PHP 5.4 removes short_open_tag config option • <? is never valid • <?= is always valid <p>A template saying "hi, <?php echo $name ?>"</p> <p>is the same as:</p> <p>A template saying "hi, <?=$name ?>"</p>
29. 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
30. 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
31. 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
32. to PHP 5.5
33. PHP 5.5: New Features • password hashing features
34. Easy Password Hashing <?php $pass = "secretpassword"; $hashed = password_hash($pass, PASSWORD_DEFAULT); echo $hashed; $2y$10$Q7Rm.Cmcu4lbvI7.C2q4Z.1LLoh4C63vBSffl
35. 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
36. PHP 5.5: New Features • password hashing features • generators
37. PHP Generators Simpler than iterators - a function returning a sequence of values. <?php function getValues() { // totally trivial example yield "Apple"; yield "Ball"; yield "Cat"; }
38. PHP Generators Simpler than iterators - a function returning a sequence of values. <?php $stuff = getValues(); foreach($stuff as $thing) { echo $thing . "\n"; }
39. PHP 5.5: New Features • password hashing features • generators • try/catch/finally
40. 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); }
42. PHP 5.5: New Features • 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
43. Upgrading to PHP 5.5 • turn on E_DEPRECATED on your 5.4 platform • compile PHP 5.5 and use the webserver
44. to PHP 5.6
45. PHP 5.6: Just Better • variadic functions
46. Variadic Functions Variable parameters with func_get_args() function concatenate($transform) { $string = ''; $pieces = func_get_args(); $transform = array_shift($pieces); foreach($pieces as $piece) { $string .= $piece; } return($transform($string)); } echo concatenate("strtoupper", "I'd ", "like ", 4 + 2, " apples");
48. Variadic Functions Much cleaner with new syntax: function concatenate($transform, ...$strings) { $string = ''; foreach($strings as $piece) { $string .= $piece; } return($transform($string)); } echo concatenate("strtoupper", "I'd ", "like ", 4 + 2, " apples");
50. PHP 5.6: Just Better • variadic functions • argument unpacking
51. Argument Unpacking Let PHP unpack your args $email[] = "a@example.com"; $email[] = "Hi there"; $email[] = "Thanks for registering, hope you like it"; // old syntax mail($email[0], $email[1], $email[2]); //new syntax mail(...$email);
52. Argument Unpacking Let PHP unpack your args $email[] = "Hi there"; $email[] = "Thanks for registering, hope you like it"; mail("someone@example.com", ...$email);
53. PHP 5.6: Just Better • variadic functions • argument unpacking • import namespaced functions/constants
54. Import Namespaced Functions For classes: use \Lib\Many\Layers\Thing; $a = new Thing(); Now also for functions: include "Lib/Many/Layers/functions.php"; use function \Lib\Many\Layers\deep_func; deep_func();
55. PHP 5.6: Just Better • variadic functions • argument unpacking • import namespaced functions/constants • exponentiation operator
56. Exponentiation Operator Like pow() but as an operator echo pow(4,3); // 64 echo 4 ** 3; //64
57. PHP 5.6: Just Better • variadic functions • argument unpacking • import namespaced functions/constants • exponentiation operator • phpdbg included
58. Upgrading to PHP 5.6 • turn on E_DEPRECATED on your 5.5 platform • compile PHP 5.6 and use the webserver
59. In Summary
60. Upgrade, FFS
61. 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 :)
62. Any Questions? Contact me • @lornajane • http://lornajane.net
63. Appendices
64. PHP Version Adoption • Version 5.3 52.1% • Version 5.2 28.1% • Version 5.4 16.3% • Version 5.5 1.9% • Version 5.1 1.5% (from W3Techs.com, 5 May 2014)
65. PHP Performance Comparisons Average time to run bench.php on my laptop • 5.3.28: 3.92 seconds • 5.4.27: 2.72 seconds • 5.5.11: 2.69 seconds • 5.6.0beta2: 2.36 seconds