Some New Features in PHP 5.4 that Needs To Be Listed

The new version, 5.4 of PHP has finally arrived, and it comes up with a string of new features that is extremely important for the developers to know or need to have a grip on. While there are features that have already been there in PHP, and have only been further developed, there are certain features that have been added afresh.

Traits

This is one of the most significant features of the version 5.4, which consists of code fragments or a set or string of methods, which can be used repeatedly across the classes horizontally. In case of other languages, mixins or multiple inheritances address this particular issue. However, traits do not offer states in forms of properties. It offers a copy and paste method that is assisted by interpreter. Moreover, traits come up with a unique conflict resolution mechanism. Besides, the multiple traits can be used in the same class, even if certain methods are overlapping.

Improved Arrays though syntax and dereferencing

Arrays act like super glue In PHP. They are one of the strongest as well as the longest constructs. As a result of this, shorter syntaxes can also be used in the new version for defining in associative as well as numerical way. The structure of the syntax introduces brackets as short-hand, which has properly been defined and included in PHP scripts.

HTTP Server that is built-in

It also comes up with an in-built HTTP Server for current directories, for the purpose of testing as well as development. Then there are a number of additional options, which include customer document root as well as a router script that can be called upon each request.

Built-in Web Server (CLI)

CLI Server is not designed or developed to be used as a production Web server. It is basically used for conducting some of the PHP regression tests as well as other mechanisms of unit testing. In version 4.5, it comes up with some interesting as well as useful features for daily code debugging jobs that are conducted from the command line.

Deprecations

The latest version of PHP does not have a few of the older features such has the Magic Quotes option, which are either modified in the new version or have been dropped altogether. Again, the PHP namespace is now exclusively reserved to deal with the native code. The E_STRICT errors, which cover the correct usage of the object-oriented constructs as well as deprecation warning, are now covered by E_ALL error reporting, which will point out to each and every error, notice or warning.

Other changes and improvements

PHP version 5.4 has also seen some other minor, not so revolutionary, yet handy improvements that the developers will appreciate at the end of the day.

The latest edition has the ability of disabling the processing of POST data for saving memory CPU cycles. In case this property is activated, it is still possible to go and read the raw data through the input stream path.

JsonSerializable Interface has been introduced and this will help making an object acceptable to the json_encode().

Other improvements include:

Added callable typehint, which provides a function name, an array, composed of an object or a classname, a closure, and a method name, for a definite string.

Added Closure rebinding as parameter to bindTo

This particular feature has been modified so much so that it will now accept any other type of argument, which will define a new scope. This can well be an object in case its class is used as class name or a scope.

Improvement in Memory and Performance

Besides, there are quite a number of internal structures that have either been contracted or have been altogether been eliminated and this has led to almost 20 to 50 per cent memory savings in the larger applications. This has also bettered the performance by 10 to 30 percent, though a series of optimizations that include inlining of various common paths of codes. You can hire PHP developers from PHP development company for your web development needs, who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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PHP and Its Evolution over the Years

As a dynamic programming language, PHP can be used for both general programming and server-side scripting context. But PHP was originally not written by Rasmus Lerdorf as a new programming language. After designing the language to maintain his personal home page, Lerdorf subsequently extended it build simple and dynamic web pages. He publicly released "Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter" or PHP/FI as "Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools) version 1.0". Since its first public release in April, 1996, PHP has been evolving over the years as a powerful and dynamic programming language.

Continuous Evolution of PHP as a Dynamic Programming Language

PHP/FI: It is the second-generation implementation of the programming language that provided a complete makeover to it. The implementation further converted PHP into an independent programming language from a set of tools. Along with supporting cookies and user-defined functions, PHP/FI also came with built-in support for several databases including mSQL, DBM and Postgres95.

PHP 2: The version 2.0 of PHP was released in June 1995. It is also a single and full version of PHP 2.0. When PHP 2.0 was released in November 1997, it came with a completely rewritten underlying parsing engine. The parsing engine also distinguished the commercial release from the earlier beta release.

PHP 3: The version 3.0 of the programming language closely resembles the modern PHP. PHP 3.0 was developed by the combined efforts of many developers across the world. The version was released officially after thorough open public testing. The release also made PHP installed on 10% of web servers across the world. It was further hosted on web servers running on Macintosh and different versions of Windows.

PHP 4.0: PHP 4.0 was designed with the objective to optimize the performance of complex applications. Along with making PHP’s code base more modular, the version 4.0 also supported a wide range of databases and third-party APIs. It was further made based on the new Zend engine. The engine and new features improved the programming language’s performance drastically. PHP 4.0 also supported additional web servers, output buffering, HTTP sessions, while handling user input more securely.

PHP 5.0: After several pre-releases, the version 5.0 of PHP was officially released in July 2004. Along with Zend 2.0, it came with a number of new features and significant improvements. Along with supporting XML, PHP 5.0 further allowed programmers to access and manipulate XML as PHP objects. At the same time, it also came with an improved MySQL extension called MySQLi that included an object oriented interface. It further enable programmers to create make Web Services more interoperable by using the built-in SOAP extension.

PHP 5.1: The version 5.1 of the programming language was released in November 2005 with a completely rewritten date handling code, improved time zone support, several built-in extensions, and bug fixes. By enabling PDO extensions, PHP 5.1 simplified and improved data handling.

PHP 5.2: PHP 5.2.0 was released in November 2006 with features to improve the performance of heavy-traffic websites. Along with more tracking memory usage more accurately and efficiently, the version 5.2.0 also came with a new memory manager for the Zend Engine. It also came with a number of new features including ZIP extension, JSON extension, input filtering, date and time objects, and hooks for tracking the progress of file uploads.

PHP 5.3: The earlier versions of PHP were lacking the better object model required by complex application. So the version 5.3 of PHP was designed with improved object oriented programming. Along with several new extensions and optimal garbage collection for cyclic references, PHP 5.3 also supported namespaces, closures, late static binding and similar concepts related to object oriented programming.

PHP 5.4: As a major version of the programming language, PHP 5.4 was released in March 2012. Along with over 100 bug fixes, it came with new features like shortened array syntax, traits and built-in web server for application testing. At the same time, the version also introduced optimized performance and memory footprint.

PHP 5.5: The version 5.5 of PHP was released in June 2013. It introduced several new features including finally keyword, support for constant array/string dereferencing, simplified password hashing API, generators and coroutines, and support for list() constructs in foreach statements.

According to several reports, a new major version of the programming language called PHP7 is under development. The next version of PHP aims to optimize its performance by refactoring the Zend framework, while retaining its language compatibility. You can hire PHP developers from PHP development company for your web development needs, who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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Symfony - A Weapon for PHP Developers

As a server-side scripting language, PHP is used widely by developers for creating a wide variety of websites and web applications. Some programmers prefer mixing PHP code with HTML code, whereas others combine PHP code with different web development frameworks and templating engines. But most web developers use Symfony to rapidly create large and complex PHP applications. As a leading PHP framework, Symfony makes it easier for developers to curtail the both development time and efforts. At the same time, the innovative features of Symfony make it a powerful weapon for PHP developers.

Features that Make Symfony a Powerful Weapon for PHP Developers

Easy to Use and Configure

Symfony is compatible with most platforms, infrastructures and business libraries. So it can be used for creating PHP applications for clients belonging to different sectors. However, the framework is still easy to use and configure. The programmers have option to start development simply by configuring certain things in the application. Unlike other PHP frameworks, Symfony can be configured without requiring any extra time and efforts.

Fast and Saves Memory

Symfony2 is designed with strong emphasis on performance and speed. So it is much faster than other frameworks like Zend Framework 1.10 and Symfony 1.4. At the same time, Symfony can work efficiently without taking much memory. So the programmers can use the PHP framework without investing in expensive hardware and memory devices.

Expandable

Symfony enables developers to add new bundles to the framework through bundles. They also have option to present all aspects of the application as bundles. Thus, the system of bundles allows all aspects of Symfony modifiable. Also, the bundles can be reused for multiple projects, and be shared with the Symfony community. The bundles make it easier for programmers to control the framework’s behavior without complete reconfiguration.

Extensive Cache System

Symfony2 also comes with an extensive cache system. The cache system can be used to optimize the performance of websites and internet applications. The extensive cache further makes it easier for developers to easily optimize the performance of large applications.

Supports MVC Architecture

Despite being a powerful scripting language, PHP cannot be used exclusively for creating complex web applications. But Symfony makes it easier for programmers to create large and complex application by using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. The MVC patterns enables programmers to keep the business logic, presentation and controls separate. So the large projects can be developed in a distributed environment. The MVC architecture further makes it easier for developers to maintain and modify their code.

Generates Reusable and Testable Code

Unlike other PHP frameworks, Symfony is effective in producing reusable and testable code. The developers can simply create plug-ins and use them to add new functionalities to the application. The plug-ins can also be reused from several projects. Likewise, Symfony improves the application’s performance by delivering testable code. Symfony also provides built-in unit and functional testing framework to facilitate test-driven development.

Command-Line Interface and Tools

Symfony also allows programmers to use a command-line interface. The command-line interface makes it easier for developers to automate the deployment of applications between two web servers. Symfony also allows programmers to access a wide range of command line tools to effectuate project management and administration. For instance, they can use the in-built form generator to automate the repopulation and validation of forms. Likewise, the administrator can track the application’s activities by using the logging features provided by the PHP framework.

Despite being a leading custom PHP development framework, Symfony is open source and free. So the programmers can use the web application development framework without incurring any additional expenses. Further, they can avail the assistance of huge community of Symfony fans to easily enhance the application’s functionality and performance.

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CakePHP - What Do We Know About It?

Before we get on to the details about cake PHP, let us at first know what CakePHP is all about. It is actually a web application framework that is open source and follows the customary MVC (Model View Controller) business. It is written in PHP and follows the concept of ROR. Alternately speaking, it is a PHP framework for rapid web development that generally uses certain common design patterns such as ActiveRecord, ADP or Association Data Mapping, Font Controller besides following MVC. It is basically a PHP equivalent of ROR.

The framework is extremely useful when it comes to seamlessly creating static pages, more so when it comes to creating controller for these static pages or defining action for each of them whenever needed. Therefore, technically speaking CakePHP is a foundation structure that can be used for creating web applications. The primary objective of the framework is to help the developers to work in a quick yet structured manner, with losing any flexibility.

If the task of web development was somewhat monotonous, CakePHP has taken out that element of monotony, by offering a wide range of tools for coding as well as specifying logic into the application. So let us go through the features that CakePHP comes up with:

• The framework is active as well as extremely user-friendly so that even the ones who are new in development can deal with it without any hiccup whatsoever
• It is flexible as well as compatible with PHP version 4, 5
• It comes up with integrated CRUD for database integration, it supports scaffolding of applications, helps in code generation
• It features certain build-in validations along with a request dispatcher with some clean custom URLs, routes
• It is pretty fast and it supports flexible templating with helpers for PHP syntax, AJAX, HTML forms, JavaScript and much more
• It also supports data sanitization as well as flexible caching

The USP of the framework is that it is designed to provide a tough enough base or foundation for any application. It is designed to handle each and every aspect – right from an initial request by a user, through the process of development till the final rendering of the web page in question. Again, as the framework is designed to follow the MVC principles, it allows seamless customization of the pages and extends to almost every feature of an application.

It also offers a basic organizational structure, helping in structuring of filenames as well as the names of the database tables, which in turn helps to maintain the consistency along with the logic of applications. This is a simple, yet quite powerful concept, especially in the question of maintaining the overall health of an application.

Now let us go through the basic tasks that can be done with the help of CakePHP.

Data Validation

This is an extremely vital component of any application because it helps to guarantee that the data that are used in a particular model sticks to the business rules or the terms and conditions pertaining to the application. This may include validating the user ID or password or checking out the uniqueness of the user names used.

Data Sanitization

It also helps in data sanitization. The Sanitize class that CakePHP comes up with can be utilized to free the data submitted by the users from the malicious or erroneous data and other unnecessary information. Sanitize is essentially a core library, and hence can be utilized anywhere within the code, though it is best used in models or controllers.

Error Handling

In case any unrecoverable or irretrievable error occurs in any application, it is a rather common practice to halt the processing mechanism and display the error page. For that what is needed is separate code error handling for each controller and component, which is a tedious as well as time consuming task. CakePHP saves a developer from this laborious job by pre-defining a series of error-types. One of the most common as well as useful error types is ‘Error-404’.

Debugging

It is an inseparable part of any software development cycle. Though CakePHP does not come up with any tool specifically for debugging or tools that have anything to do with Editor or IDE, it does offer a string of tools that help in debugging indirectly, though not directly; displaying whatever was running at the back end of the application. CakePHP also helps in debugging, caching, logging, testing, localization and internationalization, pagination and REST (Representational State Transfer). You can hire developers from PHP development company who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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AngularJS Fundamentals and more

Google created AngularJS, a JavaScript MVC framework, to create websites that has proper architectures and is easy to maintain. The reason why AngularJS is preferred is because it uses numerous concepts to organize the web apps. It also enhances the HTML by attaching the directives to the webpages with new tags so that the powerful templates in the directory can be easily defined. Owing to its dependency injection, this framework aids to structure and test the Java code quite conveniently. AngularJS is considered a powerful framework and this is its fundamental strength. Let’s explore why it is gathering so much popularity at such a fast pace or why the developers are taking it seriously while developing a plethora of applications.

XAML Developers can work easily with it

XAML once became quite popular with the developers owing to the use of Silverlight, Windows and WPF app developments. The features present in it are also found in Angular as well. Here are the reasons why the XAML became popular as a declarative language. It was used to instantiate set values and object graphs. Several kinds of objects (with properties) could be defined. Then a set can be marked for developing it. Most commonly the UI elements to be developed were controls and panels that generally create the display. By using XAML, the layout of UI can be made easily. This language is also used for data binding. As a result a relationship exists between the data as well as the presentation layer so that the components can avoid hard dependencies. These same features are also found in the Angular framework. This allows a separation of concerns that leads to a parallel flow of work amidst the various components, like, the markup for the user interface. It also fetches and processes data.

It mitigates the rituals and ceremony

Creating a text property to bind it to your user interface by using AngularJS is an easy task. It will also work with immediate effect by displaying what you have typed in the span. However, you will rarely have the luxury to build an app as simple as that but it explains how easily one can work out data binding with the help of this framework. There is hardly any elaborate ritual or ceremony associated with creating a model for data-binding. There is no need to derive anything from another object or declare the properties. The developers can simply pass what they already have to the framework. It will just work fine.

Declarative UI

HTML is utilized by this framework to define the user interface of an app. HTML is a declarative language which is quite intuitive. It defines the JavaScript development in a proper procedure as well as with lesser irregularities. HTML is also known to be less brittle while reorganizing. Moreover, several UI developers can be involved if a view is written in HTML. This is also required while executing the apps.

Dependencies are dealt with

The framework can take good care of the dependency injection. Testing and Single Page Application are the two areas where this feature works the best. Angular allows dividing the app into logical modules while testing which are initiated separately but can be dependent on each other. This helps the developers to bring in the modules that they need. The Single Page Applications make use of the dynamic loading. With Anugular it becomes easy to organize the apps as all you need to do is put in your requirement and the rest of the work is taken care of.

Data models do not need extra functions

Data models are POJO (Old JavaScript Objects). The properties can be altered or added directly on it. In this way the code looks cleaner. The traditional data models are responsible for server syncing and data persistence. But in this framework the data models are plain objects. These act like a cork board where the data is stored and retrieved from. These are known as scopes.

Due to these features AngularJS is considered as one of the most adaptive frameworks by the developers and can be applied to create impressive apps.

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The Pros and Cons of Zend PHP Certification

Zend PHP Certification is done in two phases – Zend PHP Phase I and Phase II. The phase I of the certification course is basically the foundation course that is designed for providing a sound idea of PHP language to the non-technical or non-programming individuals. This particular course guides the aspirants through the fundamentals of PHP with a somehow experiential approach that is pregnant with a number of examples along with several hands-on exercises. As the course comes to an end, the aspirant learns the key essentials that are needed for PHP programming.

The second phase of the certification curriculum on the other hand, is an intermediate-level course that is built upon the programming knowledge that has been acquired throughout the 1^st phase. The 2^nd phase is chiefly consisted of a hands-on approach, rich with a number of instances along with practical exercises and development of a key project with a view to enhance as well as continue enhancing the skills by utilizing the best practices with the help of the most effective tools.

Now the question is whether this certification course if really worth. While one school of thought is of the opinion that the course is really valuable, according to another quarter, the course is not that useful. On the contrary, it is a bit overrated. All said and done, it is perhaps most sensible to say that the course has its merits as well as demerits and one cannot ignore its efficacy at the end of the day, no matter which way it is seen from. So let us discuss the pros and cons of this certification course.

Advantages

It helps in confirming the skills

The most important objective of this certification is that it provides a formal confirmation about the PHP programming skills of an individual. Once a programmer successfully completes the course, he/she is described as a ZCE or Zend Certified Engineer. His/her name gets included in the directory of all successful ZCEs, which surely is a feather in his/her cap.

This certification is particularly important for the intermediate developers as this helps to differentiate them from the beginners. As the certification course covers various aspects of PHP programming language in a comprehensive manner, getting certified helps the programmers immensely whenever they chose to learn advanced PHP programming.

An excellent way of reviewing and extending the programming prowess

For taking up the examination, a thorough preparation is needed, as the course virtually includes all the fundamental functionalities of the language. Thus, preparing for the certification itself helps a lot when it comes to learning various aspects of the language, or evaluating one’s programming knowledge as well as expertise. The knowledge may include certain fundamental concepts like syntax, language constructions, dealing with operators along with various intricate features that may include working with different types of files, manipulation of arrays and strings, session handling, dealing with cookies and form data and so on.

Disadvantages

However, the certification is not without blues. This takes us back at the start of this article where it is stated that a certain school of thought has reservations regarding this course. Here are the points that have been raised by that quarter.

Limitation of examination questions

The examinees have to answer about 70 questions, the samples of which can be found on the official website of Zend. Some of these sample questions deal with the inbuilt function names of PHP, parameters – their usage etc. All these knowledge would by default form the very part of the psyche of any developer or programmer. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to evaluate this knowledge by asking such questions. Also, according to this sect of pundits, there is no logic of memorizing such a huge number of array and string functions just for passing the examination successfully, simply because in real life scenario, a proper string or array function can easily be found on the net by browsing appropriate PHP documentation.

Efficacy of the certificate

Again, certain people have expressed their reservation regarding the very efficacy of the certification, citing that it may not after all be a proof enough that an individual is an efficient PHP developer. While the certificate does guarantee that the individual in question has advanced PHP knowledge, it does not say that the person is skilled or competent enough to use that knowledge in real life scenarios. You can hire developers from PHP development company who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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