Learning PHP, MySQL & JavaScript, 6th Edition

Chapter 10. What’s New in PHP 8 and MySQL 8

By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, both PHP and MySQL had matured into their eighth versions and can now be considered highly mature products by software technology standards.

According to the w3techs.com website, by early 2021 PHP was used in one way or another by over 79% of all websites, a massive 70% ahead of its nearest rival, ASP.NET. explore-group.com reported that in 2019 MySQL remained the most popular database in use on the web, installed on 52% of websites. Although MySQL’s market share had slipped a little in recent years, it still remained a good 16% ahead of its nearest competitor, PostgreSQL, which is used on 36% of websites. It appears this will continue to be the case in the foreseeable future, especially as the almost identical MariaDB also lays claim to a percentage of the market.

With the latest version 8 releases of these two technologies, along with JavaScript, these mainstays of modern web development appear set to remain important to web development for many years to come. So let’s take a look at what’s new in the latest versions of PHP and MySQL.

About This Chapter

The latest releases of both of these technologies occurred as this edition of the book was being prepared, so this short chapter is more of a summary or update. It not only includes information useful to the beginning to intermediate PHP and MySQL developer, but it also takes the opportunity to detail some of the more advanced ...