 Articles |
|
| Developer News |
|
|
|
| Want to receive new articles via e-mail? Click here! |
/Home
/PHP
|
PHP5 Beta Released [10 Dec 2004]  |
|
|
|
|
Synopsis:
The long awaited PHP5 has arrived and offers all new features, enhanced support for XML, a Standard PHP Library and much more. Released just two days after version 4.3.10 of PHP, the all new PHP5 proves to be something to look out for in the near future. |
|
|
The Article
Whats News in PHP5?
There are many new and enhanced features in PHP5, such as the introduction of exception handling, a Standard PHP Library, better support for XML and enhancements to the object features. Also on offer with the new version is a large list of new functions.
Enhanced Support for XML
The new PHP5 installs XML support by default and offers SimpleXML which standardises functions and is fully compliant with the well known World Wide Web Consortium's standards. SimpleXML is claimed to be possibly the greatest addition to PHP in recent versions, allowing you to write out the entire XML document with just a few lines of code.
Enhanced Database Support (that isn't so enhanced)
PHP5 offers SQLite, a faster and easier method to creating those mySQL databases and tables from within PHP.
Whilst the SQLite is perfect for developers who are new to PHP and mySQL, it fails on popular sites and experienced developers should stay away from SQLite. The new SQLite database which is embedded with PHP5 has no ALTER TABLE feature and is known to have problems when there are over five connections to the database. This causes major problems for even the most simple database operations; the failure to handle larger number of connections limits the amount of users that can be using the database at any one time to only five and the exclusion of the ALTER TABLE function wipes out all opportunities to include the ability to add/remove/modify fields in a table, commonly used in administration areas such as in Content Management Systems.
PHP5 Overall
The new PHP5 offers many advances of the previous PHP4 version, and whilst most of the advances are aimed towards the more experienced developer, PHP have been sure to make it easier for new developers to get into PHP and mySQL through simpleXML and SQLite. You can find more information about PHP5 from the PHP website, at www.php.net.
PHP5 Beta Downloads
Use the links below to download the beta of PHP 5.0.0b1, available in three compressed formats.
PHP 5.0.01b.zip
PHP 5.0.01b.tar.bz2
PHP 5.0.01b.tar.gz
|
|
|
| Similar/related articles:
|
|
|
|
| Sponsors |
|
|
|
|
