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PHP

Posted by Kristian Woods
Kristian Woods
23,414 Points

Is there much difference between PHP 5 and the latest version of PHP?

I just bought a book on PHP and Mysql - I made the mistake of neglecting to check if it was a recent edition. Turns out, the book covers version 5 of both PHP and Mysql. Is it worth my time to read it, or has there been a lot of updates since?

Thanks

ps. If anyone could recommend a great php and mysql book, that would be great

1 Answer

Corey Cramer
Corey Cramer
9,453 Points
Corey Cramer
Corey Cramer
9,453 Points

PHP 7 has some pretty nice changes since php 5.4

1) It is significantly faster! 2) Scalar type hints and returns so you can tell your code what the code should look like when it enters a function as well as what to expect leaving the function. 3) A new comparison operator (<=>) that allows you to compare multiple (haven't found much use for it just yet myself) 4) A null coalesce operator (??) which I've used for specifying default values when certain things aren't set in my code.

<input type="name" value="<? $user->name ?? "John Doe" ?>"

Your current book should be fine though, I don't think there were many breaking changes.