Introducing PHP 8 to all SmartHost Servers

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We are delighted to inform you that the latest edition of the popular scripting language PHP is now installed on all SmartHost servers. PHP 8.0.0 was released in November 2020, replacing its predecessor PHP 7.4. 

Below is a brief description of the new features of PHP 8. 

JIT (Just In Time) Compiler: 

One of the major new updates of PHP 8 is the JIT Compiler, which increases performance significantly. The JIT compiler compiles parts of code during runtime, acting like a cached version of that code. From testing, the JIT Compiler can increase performance by more than 45% which is substantial. 

Cleaner, Shorter Code: 

New elements like the null safe operator, improve the overall readability of the code. Making it shorter and cleaner. It will provide similar functionality to the null coalescing, with the added support of method calls. Instead of nesting numerous “if statements”, you can now use the null operator to write all of these in 1 line of code. 

Union Types: 

Union types are a collection of two or more types that indicate either one of these can be used. Essentially, it declares an OR condition for multiple types in the argument type, property type, or return type declaration.

Staying up to date with the latest version of PHP is essential for secure and fast code. We are delighted to bring this to all SmartHost servers.