PHP dynamic programming language
Although there are many reasons—including performance—to update to newer PHP releases, the number one reason is to avoid losing security updates.
Each version of PHP (7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, etc.) has three years of support before it is considered end of life. For two years, it gets bug fixes and all security fixes. In the third year, it gets only critical security fixes. After that, nothing!
PHP sites and APIs on IBM i have a new way to run even faster. As noted in our CP+ PHP Changelog, we have added the APCu extension to our PHP distribution.
The APC User Cache (APCu) extension is an “in-memory key-value store for PHP” that evolved from the old APC extension (minus the opcode caching). We added APCu at the request of a Linux PHP user who migrated their PHP application to the IBM i to simplify their architecture.
When supporting our Seiden CP+ PHP, we found that documentation for the “classic” ibm_db2 extension for IBM i wasn’t easy to find.
To help ourselves as well as others, we updated the PHP.net manual to describe each ibm_db2.i5_* setting. This blog post links to that manual page and highlights a few of our favorite ibm_db2 settings.
Last week the IBM i community got PHP 8.3, the newest version, via Seiden’s CP+ PHP.
While PHP 8.3 has valuable updates, PHP 8.0 and lower are no longer receiving even security fixes, increasing your risk of issues with security and certainly with your next security audit. Contact Alan for a free upgrade assessment.
PHP 8.3’s new features include json_validate. You’ll find the full list of changes and supporting details at PHP.Watch.
The inclusion in PHP 8.3 of two enhancements by Seiden Group’s own Calvin Buckley* inspired me to write this post.
PHP is moved forward by its community. Each year there is a new major release with enhancements, each month a maintenance release. PHP 8.3 is another achievement in the steady cycle of improvements.
Here are some key resources for understanding how the PHP language is built and enhanced.
One of PHP’s strengths is that each PHP job or process cleans itself up after every request. This makes PHP very reliable and stable.
On occasion, though, an extension may have a bug that leaks memory or causes other problems over time. If that happens, PHP’s FastCGI settings provide a solution.
I had to chuckle when someone at a recent conference seemed surprised that PHP was still a vital force in web and API development. He hadn’t heard much about PHP lately at conferences.
My explanation: “It’s reliable and the major problems have been solved.”
I continued: “There’s a significant PHP update each year, plus monthly fixes. It’s evolving steadily, with attention to backward compatibility, all changes discussed in the open, easy to manage, no surprises.”
A few years ago I introduced you to my QShell on i utility – QSHONI. QSHONI makes it easy for traditional CL, RPG, and COBOL programs to call Python utilities and other QShell/PASE utility programs (PHP, Node, Java, etc.) and directly use their output. QSHONI opened up a whole new world of integrations to open source apps from RPG, CL, and COBOL.
In this post I will update you on new features that have been added to the QSHONI utilities over the past 12 months.
Laravel has been inspiring loyalty among PHP developers for its documentation, community, and many built-in features.
Like most PHP frameworks, Laravel is cross-platform and can work with IBM i and Db2 data. This article shows how to take full advantage of Laravel’s built-in database components by installing an IBM i-specific extension to Laravel’s database connection class.
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight source code editor that runs on multiple desktops, including Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It provides built-in support for PHP, Node.js, Python, and many other languages and runtimes.
Halcyon Tech’s Code for IBM i extension adds the ability to edit IBM i Integrated File System (IFS) files inside VS Code. It’s easy to get set up to access and edit IFS-based code using this popular editing tool.
In just seven quick steps, you can install VS Code and its Code for IBM i extension and begin working with IFS files stored on your IBM i.