PHP 7.0.0 Released on 3rd December 2015

The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHP 7.0.0. This release marks the start of the new major PHP 7 series.

PHP 7.0.0 comes with a new version of the Zend Engine, numerous improvements and new features such as

•         Improved performance: PHP 7 is up to twice as fast as PHP 5.6
•         Significantly reduced memory usage
•         Abstract Syntax Tree
•         Consistent 64-bit support
•         Improved Exception hierarchy
•         Many fatal errors converted to Exceptions
•         Secure random number generator
•         Removed old and unsupported SAPIs and extensions
•         The null coalescing operator (??)
•         Return and Scalar Type Declarations
•         Anonymous Classes
•         Zero cost asserts

It is not just a next major PHP version being released today. The release being introduced is an outcome of the almost two years development journey. It is a very special accomplishment of the core team. And, it is a result of incredible efforts of many active community members. Indeed, it is not just a final release being brought out today, it is the rise of a new PHP generation with an enormous potential.

Congratulations everyone to this spectacular day for the PHP world!