Often large software projects have a hard time catching on with major versions. The most famous examples are Python and Perl, which have both had versions that have been delayed or lagging in adoption.

PHP has definitely had it’s own share of version troubles, with PHP 6 which was never released. Before that the transition from PHP 4 to 5 was somewhat painful with Apache mod_php switching being nontrivial in shared hosting environments, which were the norm at that time. But the world has changed and people can learn from mistakes.

In November 2015 the PHP 7 was unleashed. In addition to added features the new version is significantly more memory efficient and up to twice as fast as PHP 5.6 when executing applications. This is a significant improvement, especially considering that backwards compatibility is relatively good.

Most PHP applications will work with little to no changes on PHP 7.0. To help the transition there is a comprehensive migration guide from PHP 5.6 to 7.0 available. The new version also brings optional Scalar Type Hints which makes developing libraries more robust, whilst keeping the library consumers’ life simple:

So weak type handling is basically a feature for the consumers of interfaces/methods/API’s, it allows the use of a interface to not care so much about type. While the implementation, written by a library developer, gets the exact type it expects, and nothing else. This should thus technically please both sides of the interface(/fence).

— PHP 7.0: Why Scalar type hints with strict mode, and stricter weak mode

The web developer community has embraced PHP 7 and the core team works on improvements with PHP 7.1 and beyond. But to use PHP 7 you’ll need to also be able to host in such environment. Many hosting companies are rightfully conservative on the Linux versions they run. Upgrading software versions using esoteric extra repositories is also at users’ only risk — if allowed at all.

Ubuntu LTS versions are very popular in this scene due to their support lifecycle and stability. Ubuntu LTS releases have a five year support span, so catching this wave is very important. Luckily PHP 7.0 was released in time to have a possibility to be a part if the next Ubuntu LTS release, 16.04 Xenial Xerus:

Good news for PHP developers: PHP 7.0 is now the default PHP package shipping in Ubuntu LTS 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) starting from April 2016!

— PHP 7 is included in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Starting from April developers working with the latest Ubuntu version will have access to PHP 7 performance and features. This is a critical step so that PHP 7.x will become the default for as new many installations as possible. As for PHP 7.1 and future versions, it might be that at least some of those will be available via polyfill or transpiling.

It’s (still) a great time to be a PHP developer!