Introducing the Serializable Interface

Learn about the issues associated with the Serializable interface and how to handle them using new magic methods introduced in PHP 8.

We'll cover the following

Examining PHP Serializable interface issues
New magic methods to control PHP serialization

In order to facilitate the serialization of objects, the Serializable interface was added to the language beginning with PHP 5.1. The idea behind this interface was to provide a way of identifying objects that had the ability to serialize themselves. In addition, the methods specified by this interface were designed to provide some degree of control over object serialization.

As long as a class implements this interface, developers are assured that two methods are defined: serialize() and unserialize(). Here is the interface definition:

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Introduction

Section 1: PHP 8 Tips

Introducing New PHP 8 OOP Features

PHP 8's Functional Additions

Taking Advantage of Error-Handling Enhancements

Making Direct C Language Calls

Section 2: PHP 8 Tricks

Discovering Potential OOP Backward-Compatibility Breaks

Understanding PHP 8 Functional Differences

Avoiding Traps When Using PHP 8 Extensions

Learning about PHP 8's Deprecated or Removed Functionality

Section 3: Best Practices

Mastering PHP 8 Best Practices

Improving Performance

Migrating Existing PHP Apps to PHP 8

Creating PHP 8 Applications Using Asynchronous Programming

Conclusion

Introducing the Serializable Interface