Not for 'how-to' coding questions but PHP theory instead, this forum is here for those of us who wish to learn about design aspects of programming with PHP.
Not sure if this is the right forum area for it but hey.
My host currently works on php4 but they have said i can move to a php5 server they have setup if i like. What are the advantages/disadvantages of 5 over 4.
I know i can read up on this too, but wanting to ask the opions of those that have used both.
-much better OOP support. I mean much better. If you don't use OOP now, you will in the future and you will be happy you switched.
-new functions! some that you may not use, some that you may. One of my favorites is file_put_contents() which keeps you from having to fopen, fwrite, fclose and the sort. There are many others, thats just one off the top of my head.
But php6 is coming down the pipes ultra fast. The php docs have already started being updated. Go and poke around in the manual and you can find some things saying 'in php6 this is changed to act like this...'. Keep up with the current versions of your language so you don't get left in the dust.
I don't use OOP much at the moment but am looking to change jobs to get more experience. In my current job i'm a sole dev and the MD likes to keep the code at a level he can understand, lol.
You want PHP 5. Its better even if you aren't interested in OOP.
I'd say PHP 5 is a must have if you have the choice because you don't want to limit yourself later.
as a language i would say there is no disadvantage going to 5. it is better in every way. some issues to think about though is if you are trying to migrate an existing php 4 site to 5 you might have issues and you will also have limited hosting choices as a lot of hosts still do not support 5.
shiznatix wrote:But php6 is coming down the pipes ultra fast. The php docs have already started being updated. Go and poke around in the manual and you can find some things saying 'in php6 this is changed to act like this...'. Keep up with the current versions of your language so you don't get left in the dust.
Really? It's already appearing in the manual. Time to get another CVS snapshot and have a play
(I have a PHP6 test center running on a separate IP )