It finally happened. Support for PHP 7.4 has ended. While you can technically still use it, you're advised to update to PHP 8.0 or ideally 8.1 as soon as possible.

It feels kind of strange… I remember PHP 7.4 to be a huge milestone in PHP's development. It was the predecessor of PHP 8.0, but it already packed a bunch of amazing new features like short closures, typed properties, preloading and FFI.

But after three years and with PHP 8.2 around the corner, it makes sense that this version won't receive any updates anymore. So thanks for everything, 7.4!

By the way: you really should look into upgrading if you're still running an old PHP version. Maybe now is the perfect time: you can go straight to PHP 8.2 if you're dealing with upgrades anyway. You'll be able to deploy 8.2 to production in less than a month (or less than two months if you prefer to wait for the first patch release). If you have any doubts about the upgrade path, my recommendation is to look into Rector, it'll make your life a lot easier!

Honest Trailer

So with 7.4 leaving and 8.2 around the corner, I wanted to create a somewhat different — or: special — video. I made an "honest trailer" for PHP 8.2, which highlights all its flaws. I've taken people's critiques on what they call "an average update at best", and scaled it up just a little bit. You might think it's a little bit "over the top", but I personally appreciate a touch of humor and sarcasm here and there 😅

To be clear: I like PHP 8.2, I think it has awesome features and am looking forward to using it. But I do appreciate a joke from time to time, so I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about it as well! You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB419rY_-iQ.

Not on Mastodon

Finally, I wrote down some thoughts about Mastodon and Twitter last week. I've noticed a lot of people in my circle trying to move away from Twitter to Mastodon, and I came to some important realisations.

To be clear: I'm not moving away from Twitter, but I do want more ownership over my audience, just like I took ownership over my content a couple of years ago. Anyway, you can read all about it in this blog post.

Are you still enjoying this newsletter? Don't hesitate to give me feedback by hitting the reply button! I always enjoy reading your replies 🙂

That's it for this week, thank you for being here and until the next one!

Brent