Hi everyone,
It's our first newsletter for the month of October and the latest buzz this week has been the release of PHP 8.4's first release candidate. We're a month away from the official release, but you can familiarise yourself with the new features, and we also have a couple of articles that explains the upcoming enhancements and features. In tutorials this week we have guides to creating testable facades and working with multipl route files in Laravel. We also have tutorials on setting up Laravel on your own server, as well as a beginner's guide to testing PHP code with PHPUnit. Finally in Podcasts we have new episodes from No Compromises and this week they explain why they like testing so much, while the folks at North meets South are joined by Jason Beggs from the Laravel team to talk about the approaches to fake interactions with third-paty services during the development of Laravel Cloud. We have all that and more, so we do hope you enjoy this week's newsletter. If you're a student or developer on the move and want the latest PHP news and updates in one place, then subscribe to PHPWeekly.
If you have an article, tutorial or podcast that you would like to be featured in our newsletter, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
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All the best,
Adrian
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Articles
PHP 8.4 Release Candidate 1 is here
The PHP team has announced the release of the first PHP 8.4 release candidate! Although the general availability (GA) of v8.4.0 is still about two months away (expected on November 21), you can begin preparing for PHP 8.4 now. Familiarize yourself with the new features, the upgrade path, and key dates to ensure you're ready.
Exploring the Key Updates in PHP 8.4
PHP 8.4 is set to bring a variety of new features and enhancements that aim to improve the developer experience, optimize performance, and simplify coding practices. Here's an overview of the most significant updates.
Unlocking PHP's Hidden Gems: 7 SPL Data Structures You Need to Know
Are you ready to take your PHP skills to the next level? Let's dive into the world of SPL (Standard PHP Library) and discover seven powerful data structures that can make your code more efficient and elegant.
PHP and LLMs with Alfred Nutile
Alfred Nutile dives deep into the intersection of Laravel and the growing influence of Large Language Models (LLMs) in development.
The Magic of PHP Getters, Setters, and Readonly Classes: Crafting Clean and Efficient Code
Let’s dive deep into this trifecta of PHP’s object-oriented magic, which will ultimately help you write more maintainable and secure code.
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Jobs
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Junior PHP/Python Developer - Remote
We're looking for Full-Stack Developers to join our dynamic remote international team. As a developer, you'll work on a range of projects, including Business Intelligence systems, Legal SaaS, and cutting-edge online projects. You'll be responsible for improving legacy systems, monitoring technical systems, and delivering high-quality solutions. You should be proficient in front-end and back-end development, have strong problem-solving skills, and experience with Python, PHP, Postgres, MongoDB, and Linux servers. If you're a self-motivated team player, apply now.
Technical Support Manager - Remote
Are you interested in programming but don't have the experience yet to be a skilled developer? Join our team as a Technical Support Manager and be part of our SaaS company's success. You'll work closely with our customers to provide timely solutions, troubleshoot technical issues, and contribute to feature development. Using your skills, you'll quickly identify and resolve issues, while also working closely with our team to deliver an exceptional customer experience. You don't need to have programming experience to succeed in this role, but you should have a passion for technology and a desire to learn. You will help us enhance our products and deliver an outstanding customer experience.
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Tutorials and Talks
Split Log Levels Between Stdout and Stderr With Laravel
Have you ever wanted to log specific levels in Laravel? Sure, you can use the level config option to specify the minimum level to log, but what if you only want Debug and Info logs to go in a specific logger?
Using Redis for Caching in Laravel: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this article we'll see how to set up Redis in a Laravel application and what is to be considered when handling cache keys.
Creating a Testable Facade in Laravel
Here's a cheat sheet on how to make your simple service class more useful by adding dependency injection, a facade, and a way to easily swap in a fake.
A Beginner’s Guide to Testing PHP Code with PHPUnit
How to Start Testing in PHP with PHPUnit with a step-by-step guide.
Working with multiple Route files in Laravel
In this episode of the Quick Win Wednesday series, we're taking a look at how you can use multiple route files in a elegant way.
Setting Up Laravel on Your Own Server: A DIY Guide
Before you go through the pain and challenge of configuring your own server you should perhaps consider Laravel forge. I trust they would know better how to deploy a laravel app.
Installing and Configuring Apache as a service in Windows
Download Apache binary files from reliable sources. One reliable source is Apache Lounge. Choose the binary files that will work for your system architecture i.e either Win64 or Win32.
PHP Deprecation Warnings Explained: Update Your Code and Handle Deprecated Functions Efficiently
In this tutorial, we will explore how to handle deprecation notices in PHP, how to update your code to mitigate these warnings, and strategies for managing deprecated features. |
News and Announcements
PHP 8.4.0 RC 1 now available for testing
The PHP team is pleased to announce the release of PHP 8.4.0, RC 1. This is the first release candidate, continuing the PHP 8.4 release cycle, the rough outline of which is specified in the PHP Wiki.
PHP 8.1.30, PHP 8.2.24 & PHP 8.3.12 Released
The PHP development team announces the immediate availability of PHPPHP 8.1.30, PHP 8.2.24 & PHP 8.3.12. This is a security release.
Laravel MongoDB releases version 5.0
Version 5.0 of the official Laravel MongoDB integration is now available. This major update introduces breaking changes to better align the MongoDB integration with Laravel’s conventions and behaviors, simplifying MongoDB usage for developers already familiar with Eloquent.
CakePHP 4.5.7 Released
Improvements: Added annotations for mixin and template to Association classes. Fix BehaviorRegistry::unload() not detaching camelCase methods.
A Week of Symfony #926 (23-29 September 2024)
This week, the upcoming Symfony 7.2 version added new features such as support for defining trusted hosts and headers using env vars, improve the debug:asset-mapper command to search and filter assets and allow request parsers to return multiple RemoteEvent in webhooks. In addition, we published more talks for the SymfonyCon Vienna 2024 conference.
PHP Forum 2024, October 10 & 11, Disneyland Paris
Let's take advantage of our good knowledge of our host venue to push the event even further! With the opening of a 3rd track in parallel, the return of workshops, multiple actions to limit the impact on your budgets and the Sustainable Ambition Event Label: the PHP Forum 2024 pushes all the limits and continues to reinvent itself.
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Podcasts and Vlogs
PHP Ugly: 399: WarPress
This week on the podcast, Eric and John talk about PHPTek 2025, FetchPHP, Killer SDKs, FluxUI launch, Wordpress Drama, and more...
The Stack Overflow: A developer works to balance the data center boom with his climate change battle
On today’s episode we chat with David Mytton, CEO of Arcjet and co-founder of Console.dev. We discuss his early work in cloud monitoring, his passion for the environment, and his love for sharing great developer tools.
No Compromises Podcast: Why do we like testing so much?
I write a lot about testing in the Mastering Laravel newsletter. Ever wonder why it's a topic I care so much about?
North Meets South Podcast: Fake drivers with Jason Beggs
In this episode, Jake and Michael are joined by Jason Beggs from the Laravel team to discuss the approaches they're taking to fake interaction with third-party services during development of their upcoming product, Laravel Cloud.
Maintainable Podcast: Saron Yitbarek: The Balance Between Maintainable Code and Multiple Streams of Income
In this episode of the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby sits down with Saron Yitbarek, founder and CEO of DiscoLink, to explore the challenges of maintaining early-stage software while balancing multiple streams of income.
Software Engineering Radio: SE Radio 635: Stevie Caldwell on Zero-Trust Architecture
Stevie Caldwell, Senior Engineering Technical Lead at Fairwinds, joins host Priyanka Raghavan to discuss zero-trust network reference architecture.
Shoptalk Show: Jeff Robbins and Visibox as an Instrument for Video
Jeff Robbins stops by to talk about his software, Visibox, that was used at Frostapalooza for presenting video at the concert, what it's like building an app with Electron, how it's distributed, how files are used and managed, and how he supports hardware devices inside Electron.
WP Builds: 391 – What the heck is an immutable website? Tim Nash knows and explains all
Today, I’m joined by WordPress security maestro Tim Nash. I’ll bet he’s never been called that before! He’s here to explore his tactics for securing and managing WordPress website deployments.
Frontmatter Podcast: Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley, Authors of Fixing Your Scrum
In this episode of the Frontmatter podcast, Ryan and Todd share their individual career journeys to becoming expert trainers in the Scrum framework and their deep insights in how to improve when things go wrong in your organization.
Mostly Technical: 52: Statamic Roundtable with Jack McDade, John O'Nolan, Caleb Porzio, & Adam Wathan
Ian is joined this week by Jack McDade, creator of Statamic, and a motley crew (John O'Nolan, Caleb Porzio, and Adam Wathan) to discuss what the future of Statamic might look like. Should the price change? Should it be open source? Who should it be marketed at?
Syntax: Logging in Verification: Magic Links, 2FA, SMS Codes
Discussion on different login and user verification methods like magic links, OAuth, codes, trusted devices, etc.
The Changelog: Display custom maps on your website for free
OpenFreeMap puts OpenStreetMap data on your website for free, Fatih Arslan builds a Dieter Rams inspired iPhone dock, Joseph Gentle thinks the Rust programming language feels like a first-gen product & the web dev community is debating the viability of Web Components once again.
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Securing Data with RSA Encryption and Decryption Across Platforms
This article explores how to use RSA encryption across three popular programming languages—JavaScript, Python, and PHP—making it easier to secure data in cross-platform applications.
Mastering Eloquent: Simplify Access to Latest and Oldest Related Models
In the world of Laravel and Eloquent, dealing with relationships is a common task. But what if you need to consistently retrieve the most recent or the oldest related model? Enter Laravel’s latestOfMany() and oldestOfMany() methods – powerful tools that simplify this process and make your code more expressive.
Have you ever thought about how Storage:link works?!
Let’s have a little chat, my friend. When you store files in the storage directory, it’s because it’s more secure. But when you need to display those files, you have to use the following command to create a shortcut from storage to public.
Abstraction in PHP
Abstraction in programming is a principle that allows you to reduce complexity by hiding unnecessary details and showing only the essential features of an object or concept.
Laravel Multiple Database Setup with Dynamic Database Switching
Implement a multi-tenant architecture in Laravel where users or organizations (like schools) are dynamically connected to their own database upon login.
Mastering PHP: Type Hinting techniques
Type hinting is considered by some to be the holy grail of features. One that all programming languages must have. PHP for the longest time didn’t have such a system but has now been adopted widely by most developers.
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Interesting Projects, Tools and Libraries
forxer/blade-ui-kit-bootstrap
Blade UI Kit components with Bootstrap styles and classes.
froala/yii2-froala-editor
A beautiful WYSIWYG HTML text editor based on HTML5 technology. Cross browser, with mobile support, high performance and Retina Ready modern design.
wikimedia/lucene-explain-parser
Parsing and pretty-printing Lucene explain data.
php-anonymizer/anonymizer
Library to remove confidential data from different data containers.
marcuspi/random-factor
Makes strings of random words (if you need a semi-safe random word combination).
hexastudio/array_disk
Store array as cache in hardDrive, decrease memory usage.
tractorcow/silverstripe-geocoding
Google maps geocoding wrapper for Silverstripe.
smart-php/super-cache
Simple PHP cache mechanism which is 500X Faster Caching than Redis/Memcache/APC in PHP & HHVM.
zealproject/zeal-messages
Simple helper/controller plugin for showing app messages.
pastuhov/php-exec-command
Simple php command executor with param binding.
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