The wait is almost over, and PHP 8.4 is just around the corner! Let's dive into the exciting new features and changes that have been announced so far.

Mark Your Calendars: PHP 8.4 Release Date

Get ready to upgrade on November 21, 2024! Before the official release, PHP 8.4 will go through a 6-month pre-release phase, featuring Alphas, Betas, Release Candidates, and finally, the official launch.

Changelog

Property Hooks

Inspired by languages like Kotlin, C#, and Swift, property hooks are set to revolutionize the way you code. With two syntax variants, reminiscent of short and multi-line closures, you'll be able to:

class User implements Named
{
    private bool $isModified = false;
 
    public function __construct(private string $first, private string $last) {}
 
    public string $fullName {
        // Override the "read" action with arbitrary logic.
        get => $this->first . " " . $this->last;
 
        // Override the "write" action with arbitrary logic.
        set { 
            [$this->first, $this->last] = explode(' ', $value, 2);
            $this->isModified = true;
        }
    }
}

Property hooks will simplify your code by eliminating boilerplate property getters and setters, allowing you to define access and updates with ease.

Also, you can define property hooks in interfaces so you can make sure that each implementation follow the same rules.

interface Named
{
    // Objects implementing this interface must have a readable
    // $fullName property.  That could be satisfied with a traditional
    // property or a property with a "get" hook.
    public string $fullName { get; }
}

Here you can find more info about Property Hooks in the official RFC page.

new Classes without Parentheses

Goodbye Unnecessary Parentheses. PHP 8.4 is bringing another game-changer to the table: no more wrapping new invocations in parentheses to chain methods! This means you can ditch the extra syntax and make your code more concise and readable.

Take a look at this example:

// Before PHP 8.4
$name = (new MyClass())->execute();

// With PHP 8.4
$name = new MyClass()->execute();

Not only does this update simplify your code, but it also works seamlessly with properties, static methods, and constants.

new MyClass()::CONSTANT,        // string(8)  "constant"
new MyClass()::$staticProperty, // string(14) "staticProperty"
new MyClass()::staticMethod(),  // string(12) "staticMethod"
new MyClass()->property,        // string(8)  "property"
new MyClass()->method(),        // string(6)  "method"
new MyClass()(),                // string(8)  "__invoke"

This small but significant change will make a huge difference in your coding experience.

New DOM HTML5 parser

In PHP we already have the \DOMDocument class. This was used to parse HTML code but it was not fully compatible with HTML5 code.

Now, the new \Dom\HTMLDocument is fully compatible with HTML5 and the new default way to go.

$doc = \Dom\HTMLDocument::createFromString($contents);

The previous class still available, but I think there is no reason to still using it.

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