PHP is a very popular scripting language that has changed drastically over the years.  Originally developed for websites and server-side scripting, PHP now has the ability to be run from command line interfaces and be used in stand alone graphical applications.  With PHP’s core functionality ever changing, we can expect to see many more changes to the powerful software language upon the release of PHP6.

So what’s new in PHP6?  Well, no one knows for sure, but we have sifted through the rumours and have made a list as to which we think will be the most exciting.  The first and foremost exciting change in PHP6 will be the removal of register_globals, safe_mode, and quote options.  With the removal of these functions we will see an environment thats more stable, one with less security holes, as these functions have posed huge security risks and allowed for unwanted string alterations.  The next feature that we are excited for is the Integrated Alternative PHP Cache (APC) which has the ability to significantly increase the speed of your website / software / or application with its built in caching libraries as well as its newly integrated support.  The last feature that we think will be a huge improvement to PHP6 is the increase unicode support.  With the increased unicode support, PHP will now be able to automatically encode and decode your script to ensure that both your database and user agents are receiving the code they need to function properly.  All in all, we can expect many new features in the up and coming release of PHP6.  The features we have discussed here, are no doubt exciting, but are only the start of whats to come in the new version of PHP6.