Seems like version 5’s improved class handling just came out yesterday. The new edition, of which snapshots are available, seems like a pretty moderate upgrade. It adds built-in tools for working with XML and SOAP, support for creating custom namespaces for methods and classes, and better Unicode handling.

Version 6 also ditches several features that have traditionally caused difficulties and gotten PHP teased in the playground: safe_mode, register_globals, and magic_quotes. They will not be missed.

Keep your eyes peeled too for goto-style jumping: break FOO; will break and jump to the label FOO elsewhere in the code.

DeveloperWorks takes an in-depth look at the changes. Read the initial plan, the latest changelog, or grab a development build from snaps.php.net and try it out.

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