Download PHP 5.1 beta 1

The first beta version of PHP 5.1 has been released by the development team. This includes a new standard database abstraction layer under the name PHP Data Objects and support for the PostgreSQL v3 protocol. The included announcement looks like this:

PHP 5.1 Beta 1 is now available! A lot of work has been put into this upcoming release and we believe it is ready for public testing.

Some of the key improvements of PHP 5.1 include:

• PDO (PHP Data Objects) – A new native database abstraction layer providing performance, ease-of-use, and flexibility.
• Significantly improved performance including a new Zend Engine II execution architecture.
• The PCRE extension has been updated to PCRE 5.0.
• Many more improvements including lots of new functionality & many bug fixes, especially in regards to SOAP, streams and SPL.
• See the bundled NEWS file for a more complete list of changes.

Everyone is encouraged to start playing with this beta, although it is not yet recommended for mission-critical production use.