Eric Van Johnson

To my web development friends out there, do you still code a light mode and a dark mode of your site and if yes, what is you default?

𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗛𝗣 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 The PHP security team would like to give advance notice of an 𝘂𝗽𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝟮𝟭 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php#2026-10-20-1

🚨 PHP devs, rejoice! 🎉 Claude Code Hooks can now fail closed with the new onFailure block! Safeguard your code like a pro. No more unexpected surprises! Check it out and elevate your guardrails game! #PHP #Coding https://shocm.me/posts/2026-10-17-claude-code-onfailure-block-fail-closed-hooks/

New @phparch.com merch is up. Loving the backpack and hoodie, it's getting cold out there. Also socks, a water bottle, and a nice thank-you card. Holidays aren't far off, great gifts for your PHP developer friends. Check it out for yourself, http://store.phparch.com.

At the Lucy Darling show tonight with my peps

I brought my Omarchy laptop with my on my trip and couldn´t connect to the hotel wifi. Turns out the hotel wifi captive portal wasn´t capturing my request. I needed to make a request to a site using HTTP. But I don´t know any http:// site. TIL: http://httpforever.com/ and http://neverssl.com

I ended a phone call today with them saying "Bye, Eric" and me saying "Later, Eric". In my entire life being named Eric, I can't ever remember saying bye to another Eric on the phone, and it actually felt kind of weird. I almost expected a black hole to open and a terminator to step through.

Padres are killing me! Hats off to the Brewers for another great battle and come back to win in the 9th. San Diego has a long road to stay in this run for the series. Should be an exciting game 3.

🚀 Exciting news for PHP devs! MySQL 26.7 just handed the thread pool to the community, and guess what? PHP-FPM has a big role in this. Dive into the details and see how it can amp up your apps! #PHP #MySQL https://shocm.me/posts/2026-09-29-mysql-267-thread-pool-community-php-fpm/

OMG, this is so much fun it's crazy. https://destroy.spritefusion.com/

I finally got a WTF configuration I'm happy with and find helpful

🚀 PHP Developers, meet your new best friend: NativePHP Mobile 4.5! 🌟 Async Tasks bring you a second thread for smooth multitasking. Your apps just got a serious upgrade! Dive into the details and elevate your coding game. #PHP #Nati… https://shocm.me/posts/2026-09-26-nativephp-mobile-async-tasks/

14 Sept

🚀 Big news for Laravel lovers! Laravel 13 now runs vector searches on MariaDB! Plus, check out the AsVector cast that makes it all possible. Dive into this game-changing update and level up your dev skills! #Laravel… https://shocm.me/posts/2026-09-14-laravel-13-mariadb-vector-search-asvector-cast/

10 Sept

The first PHP Foundation Podcast is live on the @phparch.com YouTube channel with Elizabeth Barron. Today she's speaking with @mattstauffer.com, who is always a great person to hear from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja9JqyYshAE

8 Sept

Tired of Claude not running Pint? 🧐 It’s time to take control! Learn how to enforce your PHP toolchain with hooks and say goodbye to mishaps. 🚀 Let’s keep your code as sharp as your wit! #PHP #CodingLife https://shocm.me/posts/2026-09-08-claude-code-hooks-php-pint-phpstan/

31 Aug

Picking the "Bubble"

30 Aug

🚀 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/

Eric Van Johnson reposted

PHP Architect

@phparch.com

28 Aug

🚀 PHPTek 2027 is looking for speakers🗣️. Got a talk idea that helps devs solve everyday problems? Submit it here: https://cfp.phptek.io #PHPTek #PHP

25 Aug

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

21 Aug

🚀 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/

19 Aug

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/

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.

17 Aug

Continuous Integration

17 Aug

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.

14 Aug

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. 💚

6 Aug

🚀 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/

2 Aug

Let's GO! First try on this one.

1 Aug

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

1 Aug

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

31 July

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 ❤️

29 July

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

28 July

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

27 July

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

25 July

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/

23 July

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.

22 July

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/

19 July

🚀 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/

This is going to be a little bit of a story. A story and an initial feature test. Using filamentphp and Postiz, I created one of my favorite tools.

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I even created a spreadsheet workflow for this and some Google Scripts that worked, but had many limitations. Now I have a tool that lets me create posts (and even threads) with mentions in my filamentphp interface, and post (or schedule to post) them using Postiz.

Well, in theory, anyway. I guess we will see if this final post works.

This is going to be a little bit of a story. A story and an initial feature test. Using filamentphp 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 handles across different platforms. As such, I've been keeping a personal database of people I interact with and their handles on different platforms.

17 July

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

16 July

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/

16 July

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."

13 July

Tired of juggling between your code and MySQL? 🥴 Meet lazysql - the TUI database client that lets you manage your databases straight from the terminal! Say goodbye to awkward switches and hello to seamless coding. #PHP… https://shocm.me/posts/2026-07-13-lazysql-tui-database-client-php-developers/