On the php.internals mailing list Zeev Suraski, one of the developers behind the Zend Engine powering the PHP language, posted some thoughts about PHP 8, the next major jump for the language.

As I mentioned a few days ago I intended to send it slightly later - but as Nikita brought up the topic of PHP 8, this is probably as good a time as any to start the discussion.

The goal of this email isn't to discuss in detail each and every topic that's mentioned, but rather to establish whether we want to move to focus on PHP 8 as we go beyond PHP 7.3, based on some of the research projects and PoCs we've been working on.

He then lists out some of the places he thinks should be included in the next major version of PHP including:

• Just-in-time compilation
• Better support [for] long-running, async-based, microservices-focused execution model
• Preloading support.

He notes that the list he presented is by no means complete and not a decree of what should come but suggestions of where he sees the language could dramatically improve. The post has already gathered a large number of replies from people all over in the PHP community sharing their own ideas and responding to the ones Zeev presented in his original message.

The Cloudways blog has posted an interview with Zeev Suraski, one of the founders of Zend Technologies and large contributor to the PHP 3 release.

Zeev Suraski needs no introduction. He is the Co-founder of Zend Technologies and is credited for some exceptional work around development during his career. In 1997, he created PHP 3 with his friend, Andi Gutmans. The name Zend is basically derived from Zeev and Andi.

Zeev’s contribution to PHP can never be ignored because it was his efforts from his early days that actually resulted in more than 20 million PHP based websites. He made significant contributions in writing the Zend engine and is also a member of Apache Software Foundation. I had the honor of interviewing Zeev, where he shared his experiences and thoughts.

In the interview Zeev answers questions about:

• how he got started with PHP and why he became "a PHP guy"
• his story about how he got into programming in general
• the work he and Andi did for PHP 3
• his opinion on PHP frameworks
• his view of PHP moving forward including PHP 7

There's plenty more great content here so if you've ever wondered some about the history of the language and where Zeev fits in it all I'd suggest giving it a read.

On the WebHostingHero blog today there's a new post going back to the roots of the PHP language and some of the original contributors like Rasmus Lerdorf, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

When PHP began in 1995, it represented a fork on common object oriented programming languages. Designed to help provide scripting for the web, the language took on a life of its own as it became one of the primary web development standards. Today, PHP is used by millions worldwide and powers a majority of sites.

They talk about how some of the original developers are active in helping to better the languages (directly and indirectly) and how the advocacy of the community has helped it grow even stronger over the years. There's also mini-spotlights on each of the three mentioned above.

On the ITJOBLOG a recent post takes a look at how PHP has "sidled into the Enterprise" with the help of Zend and Zend Server.

Zend is flourishing despite the recession - "the Q1 of 2009 has been our strongest quarter ever," says Suraski - and although PHP's enterprise market share is small compared to Java or .NET, it is growing. [...] What interests me is why this has happened. [...] More directly important though is that the community using PHP - the large area of non-paying users in Suraski's slide - has created a remarkable pool of resources on the Internet that is available to everyone, business users included. Non-commercial users are those most likely to share their knowledge, unfettered by concerns over business confidentiality or copyright.

He notes that, upon sitting down and developing a small PHP application, every problem he encountered was easily remedied by either a Google search, a message board or in the PHP manual - "I don't mean to belittle the extent of online resources available to Java or .NET developers, but would argue that PHP has the edge here."

Christian Wenz has summariez an interview with Zeev Suraski of Zend that was conducted by the German portal site Golem.

As far as I have seen, a two part interview the German online portal Golem conducted with Zeev Suraski in Mid-October went quite unnoticed in the non-German speaking community, so I thought that I would sum up the most important topics he covered (translation errors are all mine; I also tried to maintain the context of what Zeev said, but you never now).

Topics mentioned in the interview and in Chritian's list include a mention that Zend Studio will still exist, the differences between PHP5 and PHP6, developers working on the Zend Framework and a look aheaad to the tools Zend will be bringing out to help with developing PHP/Ajax applications.

Christian Wenz has summariez an interview with Zeev Suraski of Zend that was conducted by the German portal site Golem.

As far as I have seen, a two part interview the German online portal Golem conducted with Zeev Suraski in Mid-October went quite unnoticed in the non-German speaking community, so I thought that I would sum up the most important topics he covered (translation errors are all mine; I also tried to maintain the context of what Zeev said, but you never now).

Topics mentioned in the interview and in Chritian's list include a mention that Zend Studio will still exist, the differences between PHP5 and PHP6, developers working on the Zend Framework and a look aheaad to the tools Zend will be bringing out to help with developing PHP/Ajax applications.

Nick Halstead is conducting a poll of his own to try to figure out who the online community thinks are the "Top 10 Programmers of All Time".

My original list was based upon my programming background and was purely my own opinion and I did not expect everyone to agree with it. What I thought I would do this time round was to give everyone a chance to voice their opinion. [...] have pre-filled 18 programmers from my original list plus those that were suggested in the comments.

You can vote on a wide range of developers, including several PHP-associated once like Rasmus Lerdorf, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski.

Nick Halstead is conducting a poll of his own to try to figure out who the online community thinks are the "Top 10 Programmers of All Time".

My original list was based upon my programming background and was purely my own opinion and I did not expect everyone to agree with it. What I thought I would do this time round was to give everyone a chance to voice their opinion. [...] have pre-filled 18 programmers from my original list plus those that were suggested in the comments.

You can vote on a wide range of developers, including several PHP-associated once like Rasmus Lerdorf, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski.