PIE is a new installer for PHP extensions intended to eventually replace PECL. It is distributed as a PHAR, just like Composer, and works similarly to Composer. However, it installs PHP extensions (PHP Modules or Zend Extensions) to your PHP installation rather than pulling PHP packages into your project or library.
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In this episode, Eric Barnes sits down with James Brooks, team lead for Laravel’s core services team, to dive into the new Laravel Forge launch. James walks through the biggest updates to Forge, from organization support and zero-downtime deployments to the new command palette that makes managing servers and deployments easier than ever.
We also explore how Forge compares with Envoyer and Laravel Cloud, the challenges of building on top of legacy infrastructure, and how community feedback continues to shape the future of Laravel’s server management tools. Whether you’re a hobbyist or running production workloads at scale, this conversation will help you understand how Forge empowers developers with flexibility and control.
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Laravel Boost is your new AI coding starter kit, designed to make working with AI agents better. It does this by feeding them Laravel-specific data to help them write higher-quality code. Ashley Hindle described it as, "Boost helps guide the AI to do better".
Some of the features of Boost include:
Show Links
https://laravel-news.com/laravel-boost
https://x.com/ashleyhindle
https://x.com/ericlbarnes
Eric and Brent discuss the evolution of PHP, the importance of testing, and the introduction of Tempest, a new PHP framework. They delve into the challenges of code highlighting and the innovations that have emerged in the PHP community, including the exciting developments surrounding Franken-PHP. The discussion also touches on the future of PHP and upcoming events in the community.
Show Links:
* https://stitcher.io
* https://www.youtube.com/@phpannotated
* https://laravel-news.com/tempest-highlight
Chapters
00:00 Celebrating 30 Years of PHP: The PHPverse
20:41 The Evolution of PHP: Features and Community Feedback
25:26 Exciting New Features: The Pipe Operator in PHP 8.5
34:31 The Importance of Testing in PHP Development
38:08 Introducing Tempest: A New PHP Framework
45:58 The Evolution of Code Highlighting in PHP
52:54 Exciting Developments in the PHP Community
Takeaways
* PHP is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the PHPverse event.
* The PHP community has evolved significantly over the years.
* JetBrains is hosting a live-streamed event to celebrate PHP's milestone.
* The pipe operator is a new feature in PHP 8.5 that enhances code readability.
* Community feedback is crucial in the evolution of PHP features.
* The PHP core team consists of a diverse group of contributors.
* The acceptance of new features often faces initial resistance from the community.
* The importance of community in shaping the future of PHP is emphasized.
* Type properties introduced in PHP 7.4 have greatly improved code quality.
* The evolution of PHP has made it a more robust and user-friendly language. Testing is crucial for PHP development.
* Many developers still do not write tests.
* Innovation in PHP frameworks like Laravel is essential.
* Tempest is a new PHP framework that aims to simplify development.
* Code highlighting has evolved significantly in PHP.
* Brent created a highlighter package to address modern PHP needs.
* The highlighter package is extensible and user-friendly.
* Franken-PHP is a new runtime for PHP that simplifies deployment.
* The PHP community is thriving with new projects and events.
* Consistency in content creation is key to success.
WhispPHP is a Pure PHP SSH server created by Ashley Hindle. It is the simplest way to build PHP SSH apps and allows you to run your Laravel Prompts apps through SSH with ridiculous simplicity.
Show Links:
- Whisp Docs - https://whispphp.com
- Whisp Demos - https://whispphp.com/docs/1.0.0/whisp-demos
- Ashley’s site - https://ashleyhindle.com
- FancyOG - https://fancyog.com
- Croft - https://github.com/ashleyhindle/croft
- Cursor AI IDE - https://www.cursor.com/
- Sam Carre’s ssh-php - https://github.com/Sammyjo20/ssh-php
- Terminal.shop - https://www.terminal.shop/
- Joe Tannenbaum’s CLI experiments - https://laracasts.com/series/cli-experiments
- Joe Tannenbaum’s hacking prompts for fun and profit - https://blog.joe.codes/hacking-laravel-prompts-for-fun-and-profit
In this episode, Eric L. Barnes sits down with Zuzana to explore the power of community in tech and her journey building Larabelles, an initiative supporting women and everyone who doesn't identify as a man in Laravel development. Zuzana shares her path into tech, the challenges of promoting diversity, and why visible role models matter. They dive into the importance of sponsorships, the flexibility tech careers offer (especially for parents), and how creativity and mindfulness intersect with coding.
# Show Links
* https://larabelles.com/
* https://www.zuzana-k.com/
* https://cheeseandweather.com/
We sat down with Dave Hicking to talk about LaraJobs' new section of articles and videos to help you advance your career and improve your hiring processes. They are breaking it down into two sections:
For Developers: How to Get Hired
This section offers insights and practical advice to assist developers in navigating the job market effectively. Some of the highlights include:
For Hiring Managers: How to Hire
This segment focuses on enhancing the hiring process to attract and retain top talent. Key articles include:
Pinout is a Laravel package that bridges the gap between web applications and hardware, enabling developers to control hardware components directly from their Laravel projects. With Pinout, you can interact with GPIO pins, control displays, and more, all within Laravel.
How does Pinout work?
Run your Laravel application directly on your Raspberry Pi, and connect your hardware to the GPIO pins.
In your Laravel application, you can use the PinService facade to control individual pins. Or you can use the included drivers to interact with more complex hardware, such as LCD displays.
Show Links
* https://danjohnson.xyz/
* https://github.com/danjohnson95
* https://x.com/danjohnsonxyz
* https://pinout.mintlify.app/introduction
Steve Bauman talks with us about his newest package, ImapEngine, which provides a simple API for managing mailboxes -- without the PHP extension.
## Show Links
* https://github.com/stevebauman
* https://github.com/DirectoryTree/ImapEngine
* https://github.com/zbateson/mail-mime-parser
* https://spamwise.ai/
* https://github.com/DirectoryTree/LdapRecord
We are joined by Jason McCreary (JMac) to discuss the upcoming release of Laravel 12, the importance of small improvements in the framework, and the role of Laravel Shift in making our lives easier.
Show Links
https://laravelshift.com/
https://shop.laravelshift.com/
https://x.com/gonedark
https://jasonmccreary.me/
https://laravel-news.com/laravel-12-release-date
https://laravel-news.com/laravel-12-laravel-shift
Aaron Francis and Try Hard Studios just officially launched Fusion!
Fusion is the simplest way to combine your modern JavaScript frontend with your Laravel backend. Send state from your backend to your frontend, and declare methods on the backend that can be called without API endpoints from your frontend. Fusion simplifies the process of working with JavaScript in Laravel, while still giving you full control and the full power of a batteries-included backend.
Find out more in our Fusion release article on Laravel News.
Simon Hamp discusses the development of Native PHP iOS, a project that allows PHP applications to run natively on iOS devices without needing a web server. He shares the journey from the initial concept of Native PHP to the realization of mobile app development, the technical workings of the application, potential use cases, and future enhancements. The discussion highlights the empowerment of developers familiar with Laravel to create mobile applications and the importance of building a cohesive ecosystem between server and mobile applications.
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Join us as we discuss the features and benefits of HydePHP, its integration with existing Laravel applications, and the motivation behind its creation.
Caen shares insights into the challenges of maintaining an open-source project and the importance of providing a quality developer experience. The conversation also touches on the use cases for HydePHP beyond blogging, including documentation, and introduces Caen's new project, Release.new, which generates release notes from Git history.
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https://hydephp.com
https://github.com/hydephp/hyde
https://github.com/hydephp/framework
https://windowlight.desilva.se
https://caen.desilva.se/projects
https://x.com/CodeWithCaen
https://bsky.app/profile/caen.bsky.social
https://linkedin.com/in/caen-de-silva/
https://release.new
We chat with Tim Leland about creating T.ly, a URL-shortening service. The discussion also touches on his experiences with building browser extensions and the impact of weather apps like Dark Sky on his projects.
Show Links
Tim Leland: https://timleland.com
URL Shortner: https://t.ly
In this episode of the Laravel Creator Spotlight, we speak with Aaron Francis and look at his journey to fame, his recent Laravel package called Solo, Try Hard Studios courses, transitioning from full-time work to running a full-time business, parenting, and his future plans.
## Show Links
Aaron's Twitter → https://twitter.com/aaronfrancis
Aaron's Bluesky →https://bsky.app/profile/aaronfrancis.com
Aaron's Website → https://aarondfrancis.com
Solo for Laravel → https://github.com/aarondfrancis/solo
Try Hard Studios → https://tryhardstudios.com/
Screencasting.com → https://screencasting.com/
High-Performance SQLite → https://highperformancesqlite.com/
Mastering Postgres: A video course on PostgreSQL → https://masteringpostgres.com/
We are joined by Brian Dainis, the founder of Curatech, discussing his journey in the Laravel community, the evolution of Laravel, and the business model of Curotech.
Show Links
Eric L. Barnes and Chris Morrell discuss the resurgence of PHP meetups post-COVID, focusing on the creation and growth of PHPX, a new initiative to revitalize local PHP communities.
Show Links
* Chris Morrell: https://cmorrell.com
* PHP World https://phpx.world
* PHPxNYC https://phpxnyc.com
* PHPxPhilly https://phpxphilly.com
* Upstate PHP https://upstatephp.com/
* Laravel Events https://laravel-news.com/events
Join us as Stephen Rees-Carter delves into Laravel security, discussing security consulting, the importance of penetration testing, and common vulnerabilities found in Laravel applications.
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In this episode, we are joined by Josh Cirre to discuss his journey from creative beginnings in music and graphic design to his current role at Laravel and his passion for video production. Josh shares valuable insights on starting a YouTube channel, finding comfort in front of the camera, and the importance of using tools like OBS for efficient video editing.
Sorry, the video on my side is jumpy. Had some technical issues during the recording 😢
Show Links
* Josh on X https://x.com/joshcirre
* Josh on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@joshcirre
* Suggest GG https://suggest.gg
In this episode of Laravel News Creator Spotlight, Eric Barnes interviews Michael Dyrynda, the creator of Laracon AU. They discuss the importance of networking at conferences, Michael's journey in creating Laracon AU, and the enhancements made for social events this year. Michael shares insights on the role of community in development, his podcasting journey, and offers advice for new developers.
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