Latest Version Of PHP

[Purres]

I'd like to know what is the latest version of PHP and its features at this time?

Should I upgrade to latest PHP version and what benefits does it help my site?

 

[ulterios]

I don't know much about it but I believe php 7 is the newest.

However, from what I have read, not everything is compatible with it. Always make sure things are compatible before changing php versions.

Many shared hosts are using php 5.4 by default. The hosts I use were running that one and I switched to 5.5 because I was getting a lot of warnings on using server resources. Switching to 5.5 helped that a lot. 5.6 and 7 are available but I haven't moved to them yet.

I know some things have problems with being compatible so check before doing any upgrading/switching.

Hopefully one of our resident hosting experts can ring in as I am sure they will be able to give you the exact detailed info you need.

 

[Mike001]

PHP 7 is the latest version, but there is still some testing going on with some backward comparability issues.

I tend to stay one version, usually minor version, behind the latest version on my production sites. The reason for that is that it gives me time to really research the changes in the release and determine if there are going to be any needed changes to my code to support the security changes in that release. Normally the code itself is backwards compatible but I want to make certain that I address and security issues that require changes.

PHP 7 is a pretty big change, thus the jump from 5.5 to 7.0. There are a lot of new features that are available especially in the way of available objects and how you address the objects and their properties. From what I have played with so far, it is going to be a very powerful upgrade and open up some very interesting abilities for not only the MySQL data side but also many third party data connections and how the data is stored an manipulated.

I am actually working on a new CMS system utilizing some of the new features and so far I have been impressed with the speed and the stability, even while doing some very process intensive things. It could be a fun ride, so let's hang on.

 

[Web Marketing Tool]

7 is the newest php version. It is best to not use it unless you are an expert with both linux and php as you may run into many support issues. The best version for most people to use is 5.6.

Also, an important note in php 7 is that mysql_ functions no longer work meaning alot of software out there using that form of mysql connection will no longer work (exa: I do freelance and I just touched a site today using the deprecated functions). In php 5.6 it throws a warning but you can turn this off so your site still works but in 7 it won't work anymore.

If you are a student or doing a personal site I would say go ahead and try using php 7 as it will be a great learning experience and will help you develop good habits (and put you ahead of everyone else). But for anyone else, especially if doing stuff for clients, use php 5.6.

 

[Priyanka Gupta]

PHP 7.0.9 latest version this is a security release. Several security bugs were fixed in this release, including the HTTP_PROXY issue.

 

[Markadler]

Markadler

The latest version of PHP is 7.0.10, not 7.0.9 and upcoming PHP 7.1
You can find out more here http://php.net/downloads.php
Php7 is really improve your website performance x3 times if your website and plugins supports PHP7.

 

[Rob Whisonant]

If you are considering upgrading to 7 I would strongly suggest reading through the migration guide. A lot of changes have been made and a huge number of scripts on the market will not work unless you want to dig in deep and modify them.

Here is a link to the migration guide.

http://php.net/manual/en/migration70.php

 

[Sylvain Garcia]

I already Made the migration to PHP 7 on each of my websites. I had to update few parts of code, but sites are faster.

 

[Alex Thompson]

Alex Thompson

Of course if you upgrade your sites/web hosting to PHP 7 then it is a right decision. Your website will run faster 3x times
There is a person did a benchmark the difference between php 5.6 and php 7 here http://forumweb.hosting/13630-is-php7-worth-it.html?p=81816#post81816
Other than that, you can use caching solutions as APCu, memcached, redis,.etc to speed loading for your webpages. especially it supports perfectly if you use Wordpress.