# PHP 8.6 First Look - What's Coming and What's Leaving > [!question] Lingering Questions > - Is the transcript's "same site is set to less" a correct ASR rendering of "SameSite=Lax," or does it need verification against the video's official captions? > - Does WP-CLI and WordPress core's test suite currently pass against a PHP 8.6 RC? > [!tip] Article Ideas > - None promoted — this is straightforward technical news coverage, not an angle-bearing source. > [!link] Cross Reference > - [[3. Resources/MOCs/WordPress Hosting Security Stack MOC]] — the secure-by-default session settings (strict mode, HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax) are directly relevant to hosting compatibility prep > [!quote] Vocabulary > - **Partial function application (PFA)** — creating a reference to a function with some of its parameters pre-filled, without writing a wrapper closure. > - **Property hooks** (PHP 8.4) — interface-definable hooks that let a readonly property's value vary meaningfully across implementations, which is what makes readonly property defaults (new in 8.6) coherent. ## Metadata - Source: [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/PHP 8.6 First Look What’s Coming and What’s Leaving]] - Author: Brent Roose (PHP Annotated / stitcher.io) - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmSiuI2tVQ4 ## Author's thesis PHP 8.6 (targeting GA around November 19, 2026) is nearing feature freeze; the video is a first-look roundup of confirmed features and deprecations rather than an argument, but the presenter's throughline is that PFA is the "missing feature" fix that finally makes the pipe operator (added a prior release) practical without wrapper closures. ## Key arguments 1. Partial function application removes the wrapper-closure boilerplate that made the pipe operator, added in an earlier release, impractical to actually use. 2. Readonly property defaults only became coherent once PHP 8.4's property hooks let a readonly property's value vary by interface implementation — a cross-version dependency, not a standalone feature. 3. The new polling API is explicitly downplayed by the presenter: it will not enable "better async" code for typical application developers, mainly benefiting lower-level frameworks (Amp, ReactPHP). ## Claim atoms ### PFA lets you pre-fill a function's parameters > [!quote] ID:transcript_pfa > "partial function application allows you to create a reference to a function with some of its parameters pre-filled." The concrete "why this feature" answer, tied immediately to the pipe operator's ergonomics problem. ### Property hooks unlock readonly property defaults > [!quote] ID:transcript_readonly > "we can now set default values on readonly properties because of this and I think that's really good." Cross-version dependency: this feature is inert without understanding 8.4's property hooks first. ### Sessions get secure-by-default settings > [!quote] ID:transcript_sessions > "Session strict mode is enabled by default. Cookies are now marked as HTTP only by default and same site is set to less as well." (likely ASR mis-transcription of "SameSite=Lax") Directly relevant to WordPress hosting compatibility prep ahead of the 8.6 GA. ## Permanent candidates - **[P1] Partial function application removes the wrapper-closure tax on pipe-style PHP** — promoted below. ## Processing checklist - [x] Confirm this is a full deep-read port (Refactor Appendix present) — yes - [ ] Verify the SameSite transcription against official captions - [ ] Check WP-CLI/core test suite status against a PHP 8.6 RC once available - [x] Connect into relevant MOC — [[3. Resources/MOCs/WordPress Hosting Security Stack MOC]] ## Links - [[3. Resources/MOCs/WordPress Hosting Security Stack MOC]] — session-security defaults and PHP-version compatibility are direct hosting-stack concerns - [[3. Resources/MOCs/WordPress Platform Design MOC]] — applies-in: PHP platform changes affecting WordPress hosting, loosely a platform topic.