What's new in the latest version 8.0.12 of PHP |
Introduction
The latest stable release of PHP is version 8.0.12, which was released on September 30, 2021. Below are new features and improvements in PHP 8.0 include:
- Named arguments: This feature lets developers pass function arguments by name, rather than relying on their position.
- Union types: This allows developers to declare a parameter or return type as accepting multiple types, for example int|string.
- Constructor property promotion: This feature simplifies the syntax for defining class properties and initializing them in the constructor.
- Match expression: Similar to the switch statement, the match expression provides more powerful and concise syntax for matching a value against multiple possible conditions.
- Attributes: This feature allows developers to add metadata to classes, properties, methods, and functions, providing a more structured way to annotate code.
- Nullsafe operator: This operator provides a shorthand way to check for null values in a chain of property or method calls.
- JIT compiler: PHP 8.0 introduces a just-in-time (JIT) compiler, which can improve performance by compiling frequently executed code to native machine code.
- Improved error handling: PHP 8.0 introduces a new "throw" expression that allows exceptions to be thrown without needing to wrap them in a separate statement. This feature makes error handling more concise and easier to read.
- Improved type system: PHP 8.0 includes improvements to the type system, including stricter type checking for certain operations, better support for mixed types, and more consistent handling of type errors.
- New capabilities and classes: PHP 8.0 presents a few new capabilities and classes, including the str_contains() capability for checking whether a string contains a substring, the fdiv() capability for performing drifting point division, and the Stringable point of interaction for objects that can be switched over completely to a string.