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Siteground today announced that they had deployed the latest candidate version of PHP 8 on all their servers. SiteGround is among the first web hosting companies to provide the newest PHP on their platform, the announcement points out.
SiteGround Introduces PHP 8
PHP 8 should facilitate developers to write better code that gets executed faster. However, since release candidates are not appropriate for live sets, the company invites its users to try it out on staging copies. The provider also promises to give away “awesome PHP elephants” to 10 of the early adopters who share their opinion.
PHP 8 introduces many new features. SiteGround is mostly happy for JIT (just in time compiler). This is the first time that a version of the language has a compiler. JIT takes a version of already interpreted code and generates a machine code as an output. The compiler should introduce better speed for complex tasks and algorithms. It also opens new opportunities for the language to extend its reach and apps.
SiteGround’s clients can change the PHP version of their websites via their control panel by following these steps:
Site Tools > Dev section, or cPanel > PHP versions.
With PHP8 still being a Release Candidate, the company advises that their clients should not enable it for live sites. Instead, run tests with it on their staging environment, available for GoGeek and Cloud plans. In case the staging functionality is not available, you can create copies of the websites in your account.
Keeping PHP up-to-date is crucial
Site owners should keep the language up-to-date all-year-round. The two main reasons for this are the following:
· Running the latest version will make your website more efficient and faster in terms of performance.
· Running the latest version is a reassurance that your site is secure. Installing the latest version is critical because it contains the latest security features. Older versions are vulnerable, and having them makes your website prone to attacks.
In June 2020, the language celebrated its 25th birthday.
You can also read HowtoHosting.Guide’s SiteGround review.