The first release on the path to PHP7 has officially been released according to this new post on the main PHP.net website - PHP 7.0.0 Alpha 1.

The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHP 7.0.0 Alpha 1. This release marks the beginning of the PHP 7 major series. All users of PHP are encouraged to test this version carefully, and report any bugs and incompatibilities in the bug tracking system. PHP 7.0.0 Alpha 1 comes with new version of the Zend Engine with features. [...] For more information on the new features and other changes, you can read the NEWS file or the or the UPGRADING file for a complete list of upgrading notes. These files can also be found in the release archive.

As with other alpha PHP releases, you can download this preview version from the downloads page or windows.php.net/qa website for the binaries.

For those out there wanting to make the move from PHP4 up to PHP5, Robert Ames has posted a few things to watch out for.

He breaks it down into to categories - the good and the bad. Some of the items on either list include:

• static methods (good)
• E_STRICT (bad)
• random passing by reference gone (good)
• replacing is_a() with instanceof (bad)

He also offers some of his personal suggestions for guidelines for future language updates.

For those out there wanting to make the move from PHP4 up to PHP5, Robert Ames has posted a few things to watch out for.

He breaks it down into to categories - the good and the bad. Some of the items on either list include:

• static methods (good)
• E_STRICT (bad)
• random passing by reference gone (good)
• replacing is_a() with instanceof (bad)

He also offers some of his personal suggestions for guidelines for future language updates.

Laura Thomson has posted her slides from the two presentations she's given at the MySQL User Conference this year - "Upgrading to PHP5" and "Secure Your MySQL and PHP Web Apps".

The Upgrading to PHP5 talk and Secure Your MySQL and PHP Web Apps" talk slides can be grabbed directly from her site.

She also notes an extensive recap that Mike Hillyer did on his site of the "Securing" talk.

Laura Thomson has posted her slides from the two presentations she's given at the MySQL User Conference this year - "Upgrading to PHP5" and "Secure Your MySQL and PHP Web Apps".

The Upgrading to PHP5 talk and Secure Your MySQL and PHP Web Apps" talk slides can be grabbed directly from her site.

She also notes an extensive recap that Mike Hillyer did on his site of the "Securing" talk.