The new PHP - Programming - O'Reilly Media
radar.oreilly.com/2014/03/the-new-php.html
What Jamie wrote
The "People's Language" is improving!
The programming language many love to hate is experiencing a renaissance. This is not your parents PHP. The new PHP is a more mature language with community standards, a growing affinity for interoperable components, and a passionate movement to improve performance. If you have bypassed PHP for alternative languages, or if you are a PHP veteran unaware of recent changes, you owe it to yourself to give PHP a second look.