PHP is one of the most popular programming languages for web development. About 77% of websites are created using PHP. It is an open-source, server-side scripting language that can be used to develop dynamic web pages and other web-based applications. PHP supports a wide range of databases, built-in functions, and a large and active community of developers and contributors who create libraries, frameworks, and other tools to extend the language’s capabilities.
As this is an open-source language, a little research will help you stay updated with the latest updates in the PHP realm—the latest one being PHP 8.3, which is all set to release in 2023.
Keep reading to explore more about PHP 8.3 and its unique features.
Read-Only Properties
You can now make properties read-only, restricting any future modifications to their value and only allowing initialization once. This can be advantageous for enhancing the security and reliability of your code by preventing accidental changes to vital information. You can also extend a read-only class with a non-read-only class and use its properties.
Additionally, at present, it is not possible to perform a “deep-clone” of read-only properties because an error is thrown when they are assigned to any value for the second time. This limitation poses a significant challenge that hinders their usage in non-basic scenarios. However, PHP 8.3 resolves this issue by allowing the reinitialization of read-only properties during the cloning process.
json_validate() Functionality
A JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) string is a text format for representing data objects in a structured way. It is based on the syntax of JavaScript object literals but is also widely used in other programming languages as a lightweight and easy-to-parse data interchange format.
PHP 8.3 will have a new function, json_validate(), which can be used to validate JSON strings. This function will return a boolean value, making the code more readable and easily understood. Until now, the json_decode() function was used to validate a JSON string in PHP, where we needed to rely on the json_last_error() function.
Better Error Messaging
The unserialize() function in PHP 8.2 throws a generic error message like E_NOTICE or E_WARNING, depending on the input string. This inconsistency makes it challenging for developers to manage errors during unserialization.
PHP 8.3 will see a new UnserializationFailedException, which allows developers to use a catch block for it and handle all possible errors during the process.
Better Data/Time Exceptions
Presently, the available options for date and time exceptions are generic, with warnings, errors, or a basic exception being the only ones available, which may not be detailed enough.
In PHP 8.3, there will be distinct exceptions to handle different errors, such as DateInvalidTimeZoneException, DateInvalidOperationException, and DateMalformedStringException.
Dynamic Class Constant Fetch
The PHP 8.3 version will allow the dynamic access of class constants by utilizing variables instead of relying on static string values (such as className::CONSTANT). This change would make it easier to access class constants dynamically and programmatically.
getBytesFromString() Method
This method enables the creation of a string of a specified length comprising randomly selected bytes from a provided string. This can be conveniently used in use cases like generating a multifactor authentication code or a random DNA sequence.
Many more changes are planned for the PHP 8.3 version, which will make it easier for web programmers to build websites and other web applications. Get more information regarding servers or websites from the talented team at CanSpace Solutions. We also provide web hosting services and assure you that your website will have zero downtime. Contact us today for more details. Remember that at CanSpace, we always support the latest PHP versions and make these available to our clients the moment they are officially supported.
