Picking the "Bubble"

🚀 PHP 8.6 just lifted a four-year-old restriction on readonly properties! What does this mean for your code? Say goodbye to those pesky limitations and hello to cleaner, more efficient coding! Dive into the details! #PHP8 #Devel… https://shocm.me/posts/2026-08-30-php-86-readonly-property-defaults/

Readonly Property Defaults in PHP 8.6: A Four-Year-Old Restriction Finally Lifts

PHP 8.6 lets readonly properties declare default values. Here is what changed, why interface properties made it worthwhile, and the edge cases to watch.

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For people who like to ask me, "Would you talk that away in front of your kids?" First off, my "kids" are 28 years old, and the joke is on you; our family chat is unhinged. The real fact is I've always filtered myself more on social media than I ever did with my family, regardless of age

🚀 Exciting news, PHP devs! PHP 8.5.10 & 8.4.25 just dropped, bringing major security enhancements to core array and DOM functions. Get ready to code with confidence! 💪 #PHP #Security https://shocm.me/posts/2026-08-21-php-stack-overflow-hardening-8-5-10/

PHP 8.5.10 and 8.4.25: The Stack Overflow Hardening Wave Hits Core Array and DOM Functions

PHP 8.4.25 and 8.5.10 RC add stack limit checks to array_walk_recursive, compact, array comparison, and DOM normalize. Segfaults become catchable Errors.

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RE: https://phparch.social/@phparch/117124185210244173 Man, I use to rock myself some CakePHP. I should spin up a project just to see where it's at now. It's been a minute.

People born in the 19-something are realizing kids won't even use their birth year to fake an ID anymore because no one would believe they're that old 🤣

🚀 Big news for Alpine.js users! 🌟 Say goodbye to positioning headaches with the new x-anchor, plus the addition of .noflip and a fix for Livewire teleport issues! Dive into the details and elevate your dev game! #Alpin… https://shocm.me/posts/2026-08-18-alpinejs-anchor-fixed-positioning-livewire/

Alpine.js x-anchor Gets Fixed Positioning, .noflip, and a Livewire Teleport Fix

Alpine.js v3.15.9 through v3.15.12 quietly reworked x-anchor with .fixed positioning, .noflip, dynamic refs, and fixed a Livewire teleport memory leak.

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Honest question. Why do people make the distinction of being from "East Texas" as opposed to the city in Texas? Is there something special about that region? Also, what is considered "East Texas"? Can I get some help from my Texas friends out there?

Hot take on "Best PHP Framework": if you're a professional dev making a living from PHP, the best framework is whichever one pays your bills. If you're a hobbyist, it's whichever one you enjoy, and that gets stuff done. #laravel #symfony #cakephp #slim #whatever-makes-you-happy

New family members. Bruce (Wayne), Clark (Kent), and John (Constantine). Didn't go to the rescue with the goal of adopting 3 kittens, but they are brothers and I couldn't separate them.

I am hopeful about the new Lanterns series on HBO Max. I really like the actors in it. Episode 1 was alright. I know they need to set things up, so I don't want to be too judgy. The ending caught me by surprise. Not what I remember from the comics.

Continuous Integration

I decided before I watch the new HBO Max Lanterns series, i am going to watch the extended cut of Green Lantern with ⁦⁨Ryan Reynolds⁩ (yes that is a real thing) to recalibrate the bar of my expectations for a good Lantern representation. Wish me luck.

A language that taught half the internet to code, runs on basically every shared host on Earth, and still powers your grandma's blog from 2009. Respect the legacy. Respect PHP. 💚

🚀 Exciting updates in the PHP Foundation Q2 2026! Dive into URI Builders, unleash the power of Raw Sockets, and discover a leaner zval. Your PHP journey just got a major upgrade! Check it out! #PHP #WebDev https://shocm.me/posts/2026-08-06-php-foundation-q2-2026-report/

PHP Foundation Q2 2026: URI Builders, Raw Sockets, and a Leaner zval

The PHP Foundation's first quarterly report covers ext/uri Builder classes, raw AF_PACKET sockets, a zval size experiment, PIE 1.5, and 100+ security fixes.

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Let's GO! First try on this one.

My migration from `composer global require` to `cpx` has begun.

My wrap-up of @laraconus 2026. Not only the new things coming to Laravel, but also the talks I enjoyed. https://laravelmagazine.com/laracon-us-2026-a-complete-wrap-up

Wife: Have a good time at LaraconUS but please don’t come home with a bunch of conference stuff Me: No worries. I have enough conference shirts and swag for a life time … Also me: But I didn’t have a keyboard with a “Merge It” key 😁 Jokes on her. She married me ❤️

Day 1 of LaraconUS is done. Lots of walking around and catching up with friends.

Not exactly the text message you wanna get from your kid when they’re almost 3000 miles away. To be fair, my response wasn’t very fatherly

Walking around Boston before some of @laraconus events start. And you know I’m going to find elePHPants in the wild.

Ever battled with job queues in MySQL? 🥊 Dive into the magic of SKIP LOCKED and transform your processing game! Say goodbye to locked jobs and hello to efficiency! 🚀 #PHP #MySQLMagic https://shocm.me/posts/2026-07-25-mysql-skip-locked-job-queue-php/

Building a Reliable Job Queue on MySQL with SKIP LOCKED

How MySQL's SELECT FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED lets PHP workers pull jobs from a queue table concurrently without deadlocks, and how Laravel already uses it.

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Looking forward to my visit to Boston and @laraconus next week. Hoping to hang out and catch up with some friends. Make sure you say "Hi" if you see me.

Unlock the secret to mastering MySQL! 🗝️ Dive into LATERAL derived tables and discover how to effortlessly fetch the Top-N-Per-Group for your PHP projects. Your databases will thank you! #MySQL #PHPDev https://shocm.me/posts/2026-07-22-mysql-lateral-derived-tables-top-n-per-group/

Top-N-Per-Group in MySQL: LATERAL Derived Tables for PHP Developers

MySQL's LATERAL derived tables solve the top-N-per-group problem cleanly. Here is how PHP and Laravel developers use them with joinLateral and raw SQL.

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🚀 Ready to level up your PHP game? Laravel 13.16 is here, and it's bringing your dev stack to new heights! Discover how this artisan command can make your coding smoother than ever. Don’t miss out! #Laravel #PHPDev https://shocm.me/posts/2026-07-19-laravel-artisan-dev-command/

The artisan dev Command: Laravel 13.16 Moves Your Dev Stack Into PHP

Laravel 13.16 turns composer dev into a first-class artisan dev command, moving your concurrent dev processes out of composer.json and into PHP.

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This is going to be a little bit of a story. A story and an initial feature test. Using @filament and Postiz, I created one of my favorite tools. A pet peeve of mine when using social networking posting tools is being able to at-mention accounts by their […] [Original post on phparch.social]

Throwback, Laracon 2016 - Louisville, KY with @taylorotwell and @marcusmoore

PHP 8.5 just leveled up your chaining game with the Pipe Operator! Say goodbye to messy nesting and hello to cleaner code. Who knew readability could be this fun? 🚀 #PHP8 #CodeCleanliness https://shocm.me/posts/2026-07-16-php-85-pipe-operator-guide/

The Pipe Operator in PHP 8.5: Cleaner Chaining Without the Nesting

PHP 8.5 ships the pipe operator (|>) for chaining callables left to right. Here is how it works, the rules it follows, and when it earns its place.

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Heard a great quote today that was new to me and I'm going to definitely start to live by it: "𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲."