PHP developers have officially released version 5.5, which has been under development since last November and went through multiple test versions. PHP 5.5 includes a range of new features, such as the new array_column() function and foreach() loop support for scalar iteration keys; it also includes generators, allowing developers to implement simple coroutines.
The new version also introduces a password hashing function that lets developers easily implement salted, secure passwords; a new finally keyword; foreach structure now supports list() constructs; other improvements include opcode caching, code optimization, Zend Optimizer+, and more. These will not affect existing code and are mainly aimed at enhancing the language’s performance and stability.
The new password hashing API uses the Bcrypt method. Example as follows:
$hash = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
Verification method:
password_verify($password, $hash);
Meanwhile, PHP developers also remind users that PHP 5.5 includes some backward-incompatible changes, including: dropping support for Windows XP and 2003 systems; case-insensitive matching functions and classes; constant names are now locale-independent, which is something developers using non-ASCII constant names should note. For the complete list of backward-incompatible changes in PHP 5.5, see list of new features and possible incompatibilities http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration55.incompatible.php
For the full list of improvements in PHP 5.5, see NEWS file https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/php-5.5.0/NEWS
Download address:
http://windows.php.net/qa/ (Windows)
http://php.net/downloads.php#v5 (Source package)
Original link: http://www.oschina.net/news/41621/php-5-5-0-adds-optimizer-and-drops-windows-xp-support