There are several new features in php 5.4, and it is very different from 5.3 - i am waiting for more support before i start using it fully.

You can check out this link - http://css.dzone.com/articles/php-54-examples - it shows some of the great features of php 5.4

It’s difficult to believe almost three years have elapsed since PHP 5.3.0. The next version should have been PHP 6.0 but unicode problems have delayed development. This latest version provides many of the features planned for version 6.0.

PHP 5.4 is available to download from the php.net website. There’s a PHP 5.3 migration guide if you want to keep your old settings. While it’s stable, you’d be advised to test your sites and applications before installing it on live servers. The PHP team often release a bug-fix version a few weeks after the initial release.

So let’s look at the best new features and improvements…

Short Array Syntax

It’s now possible to use finger-saving JavaScript-like square brackets rather than using the old array(…) construct, e.g.

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$array1 = [1, 2, 3];
$array2 = [
"one" => "first",
"two" => "second",
"three" => "third"
];
Traits

Traits reduce some limitations of single inheritance. In essence, traits are similar to abstract classes and can contain any number of properties and methods. A class can then use any number of traits, e.g.



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trait Hello
{
function sayHello() {
return "Hello";
}
}
trait World
{
function sayWorld() {
return "World";
}
}
class MyWorld
{
use Hello, World;
}
$world = new MyWorld();
echo $world->sayHello() . ' ' . $world->sayWorld();
For more information, refer to Using Traits in PHP 5.4 on PHPmaster.com.

Built-in Web Server

PHP 5.4 offers a built-in web server which runs from the Windows, Mac or Linux command line. While it’s not Apache or IIS, it’s fine for simple testing. I suspect many of the better PHP IDEs will implement support shortly.

For more information, refer to PHP 5.4′s New Built-in Web Server.

New Commands

A number of useful commands have been implemented:

hextobin(string $hex): coverts a hex representation of data to binary.
http_response_code(int $code): allows you to set or get the HTTP response code, e.g. http_response_code(404);
header_register_callback(string $function): allows you to register a function which is called when PHP starts sending output.
trait_exists(string $name [,bool $autoload]): determines whether a trait exists and, optionally, whether it should be autoloaded.
Miscellaneous Updates

If that’s not enough…

Class members can be accessed on instantiation, e.g. (new MyClass)->MyMethod()
<?=$variable?> is always available regardless of how your short_open_tag ini option is set.
Binary numbers can be declared, e.g. 0b11110000
Session upload progress has been implemented so PHP can track the state of file uploads.
Some users are reporting speed increases of up to 25% with a memory reduction of 35%.
Compatibility Issues

Most older PHP code should run without modification but there are a few gotchas to look out for:

Safe mode, register_globals and magic quotes have been removed. get_magic_quotes_gpc() will always return FALSE.
trait, callable and insteadof have become reserved words.
Several mysqli aliases have been removed.
You should also note that PHP 5.4.x will be the last edition to support Windows XP and Windows 2003.

PHP 5.4 isn’t quite as radical has 5.3, but there are enough new features to keep developers happy for a while. Let us know if you have any positive or negative experiences with the latest version.

http://www.sitepoint.com/whats-new-in-php-54/

Hmmm, Safemode. One thing isn't clear.

Safe mode is no longer supported. Any applications that rely on safe mode may need adjustment, in terms of security.

Does this mean this feature will be turned Off or turned On permanently.

Okay, the changelog for 5.4.0 clears that:

Removed from PHP, and generates a fatal E_CORE_ERROR level error when enabled.

That is part of what bothers me too. . .

The useful features to me are the short arrays, I hate typing the long word "array" thx to JavaScript, and trait, hmmm looks like a native support for a copy and paste functionality for object something that yii caters for with behaviour, but this will reduce some overhead, but am not that adventurous to make a switch to 5.4 still rocking 5.3

THE ONLY THING I HATE ABOUT PHP 5.3 UPWARD IS THE USING OF hash INSTEAD OF mhash.

MAKE THEM BRING mhash BACK JOOR..

I am patiently waiting to try out this version on a test server before I say anything.

The Safemode bit in the whole thing is capable of causing panic but I wont think about it much until I actually test to confirm my fears.