An overview of the latest news and interesting developments across PHP from June through Mid-July 2017: new language features, RFCs, community news, upcoming conferences and the latest versions of popular frameworks and platforms.

1. Last Month in PHP
June - MidJuly 2017
Kansas City PHP User Group
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID YARROW

2. PHP Patch Releases - Upgrade!
PHP 5.6.31
● Security fixes
● php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.6.31
PHP 7.0.20 & 7.0.21
● Security & Bug fixes
● php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.0.21
PHP 7.1.6 & 7.1.7
● Security & Bug fixes
● php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.1.7
PHP 7.2 Alpha
● Alpha 1-3 released
● 7.2-beta1 will be feature-freeze

3. Upcoming Features in PHP RFC
Object type hint & return type
● Target: 7.2
● tl;dr: “object” can be used as a type hint
or return type for any kind of object.
● Note: “object” can no longer be used as a
class name.
● wiki.php.net/rfc/object-typehint
Return type
class WidgetFactory {
function create() : object {
return new Widget();
}
}
Type hint
interface Extraction {
// Extract values from an object
public function extract(object $object) : array;
}

4. CMSes: Drupal
Drupal 7.5 & 8.3 - Upgrade!
● Security Release
● CVE-2017-6920
● CVE-2017-6921
● CVE-2017-6922
● drupal.org/SA-CORE-2017-003

5. CMSes: WordPress
WordPress 4.8 - “Evans”
● Link boundaries
● New media widgets for images, audio, & video
● Updated text widget
● wordpress.org/news/2017/06/evans/
● make.wordpress.org/core/2017/05/26/wordpress-4-8-field-guide/

6. Frameworks - CakePHP
CakePHP 3.4.[8, 9, 10]
● Bugfixes & new features: 3.4.8, 3.4.9, & 3.4.10
○ bakery.cakephp.org/2017/06/19/cakephp_348_released.html
○ bakery.cakephp.org/2017/06/25/cakephp_349_released.html
○ bakery.cakephp.org/2017/07/09/cakephp_3410_released.html

7. Frameworks - Laravel
Laravel 5.4.[25, 26, 27, 28]
● Laravel 5.4
○ Maintenance releases
○ Interesting addition to Collections
■ unless() -- inverse of when()
○ github.com/laravel/framework/blob/5.4/CHANGELOG-5.4.md

8. Frameworks - Symfony
Symfony 3.3
Huge release with lot’s o’ new features
● symfony/flex ← this would make a great talk!
● dotenv (see: “config” chapter of the Twelve-Factor App)
● DI Service Container improvements (autowiring, auto-config, etc)
● More!
● symfony.com/blog/symfony-3-3-0-curated-new-features
● symfony.com/blog/symfony-3-3-0-released

9. Frameworks - Symfony
Symfony 3.3.[1 - 4], 3.2.[10, 11], 2.8.[22 - 24], 2.7.[29 - 31]
● Maintenance Releases
● symfony.com/blog/category/releases

10. Frameworks - Zend
Zend Framework 3
● Will start to support PHP 7.1+
● New major versions of components to support PHP 7
○ Will drop support for HHVM
● Existing versions of components will continue to support PHP 5.6 until Dec
2018, when all official support for PHP 5.6 ends
● framework.zend.com/blog/2017-06-06-zf-php-7-1.html

11. PHP: The Right Way
● Errors & Exceptions
○ Added reference to “Whoops!”, a tool to
help analyse exceptions
○ filp.github.io/whoops/demo/
○ phptherightway.com/#errorexception
● People to Follow
○ Added OGProgrammer’s list of current
leaders in PHP
○ phptherightway.com/#people_to_follow
● Note: Every open-source project can use
your help with documentation. What are
you waiting for?

12. PHP Conferences
CoderCruise 2017
● July 16 - 23 - New Orleans, LA
● Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, & Cozumel.
● Polyglot
● The conference will take place during the
3 days spent at sea, while attendees will
be free to explore the ports when docked.
● codercruise.com
Django Girls KC
● July 21-22 - Kansas City, MO
● djangogirls.org/kansascity
Laracon 2017
● July 25-26 - New York, NY
● laracon.us

13. PHP Conferences
Kansas City Developer Conference
● Aug 3-4 - Kansas City, MO
● kcdc.info
NE PHP/UX Conference
● Aug 9-11 - Prince Edward Island, CAN
● 2017.northeastphp.org
Pacific Northwest PHP
● Sept 7-9 - Seattle, WA
● pnwphp.com
Strange Loop 2017
● Sept 28-30 - St. Louis, MO
● thestrangeloop.com

14. Nomad PHP (Online) - July 20
Nomad PHP EU - 01:00 PM CDT
Atlas ORM: Doing the Heavy Lifting For Your
Persistence Layer
● Paul M. Jones (@pmjones)
● nomadphp.com/nomadphp-2017-07-eu
Nomad PHP US - 08:00 PM CDT
What I Learned About Testing While Walking
Uphill Both Ways In The Snow
● Chris Hartjes (@grmpyprogrammer)
● nomadphp.com/nomadphp-2017-07-us

15. Next Month in KCPHPUG
August 2017
● Call for papers!
● TDD hack night?
September 2017
● PHP Test Fest Month!
● Improve code-coverage of PHP core
● Provide PRs to PHP Core without knowing
C
● phptestfest.org