In case you are living under a rock, the latest version of PHP released last week. PHP developers around the world began rebuilding their development containers with it so they can run their tests. Now it’s your turn. If you haven’t already installed it, you can download it here http://php.net/downloads.php Grab it, get it running in your development environment, and run those unit tests. If all goes well, you can begin planning your staged deployment to production.

If you need a quick start guide to get you going, our good friend Mr Colin O’Dell has just the thing for you [“Installing PHP 7.1”](https://www.colinodell.com/blog/2016-12/installing-php-7-1). It’ll get you up and going quickly on PHP 7.1.

What’s the big deal about PHP 7.1? I am so glad you asked. Here are the major n...