PHP is the coding language that Wordpress (And many other programs on the web) are written in.
In order to display a webpage written in PHP to a visitor, the web server must have the program PHP installed. New version of this program are released every few years which brings new features and bug fixes.
The last major release of PHP was version 5.6 in 2014. PHP 6 was skipped entirely and now PHP 7 has arrived. This is BIG news and fantastic news for the Internet in general.
Why it’s awesome
Performance is undoubtedly the biggest reason why your web server should be running PHP 7.
Most real world applications will run at least twice as fast on PHP 7 and take advantage of 50% better memory consumption than PHP 5.6
PHP 7 handles more than twice as many requests per second, which in practical terms will represent a 100% improvement on performance for Wordpress websites.
The faster your site’s load time is, the more Google and your site visitors will like it. If your webserver isn’t running PHP 7 you should definately consider an upgrade. Talk to your Skunkworks account manager to learn more about your firm’s options for PHP 7.
PHP Release dates
| Version | Release date | Supported until |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | June 30 2009 | August 14 2014 |
| 5.4 | March 1 2012 | September 3 2015 |
| 5.5 | June 20 2013 | July 21 2016 |
| 5.6 | August 28 2014 | December 31 2018 |
| 7.0 | December 3 2015 | December 3 2018 |
| 7.1 | December 1 2016 | December 1 2019 |
| 7.2 | November 30 2017 | November 30 2020 |