As you may already know, the beta of Yii 2 was announced yesterday. Besides being another release, which is a good thing, officially reaching beta status means that no new major features will be added before Yii 2 is released. In other words, what Yii 2 looks like in beta will be pretty close to what Yii 2 is. Yay!
Rather than discussing all, or the most important, changes in Yii 2, I’d recommend you read the announcement page linked above. As for how I imagine this will play out looking forward…
I expect the first general release of Yii 2 will be out this summer. I have a side project currently being developed in Yii 1, that I’ll convert to Yii 2 this summer, and complete using Yii 2, so that will provide me with some good insights into the new version.
As for writing about Yii 2, I’ll try to do one or more blog posts on it over the next few weeks: key features, switching to Yii 2, etc.. I’m giving a presentation on Yii 2 at php[tek] in Chicago at the end of May, so the coincidental timing works out in my favor. I’ll be doing a lot of thinking about Yii 2 over the next few weeks and months.
As for “The Yii Book“, I am still, of course, honoring my commitment to update the entire book to Yii 2. And anyone that’s purchased a copy of the book will get that update for free. I’m going to finish the book for Yii 1 first, though, for these reasons:
- Yii 2 isn’t finished yet, so more changes in Yii 2 just means more changes in the book (i.e., it’ll be inefficient to rush into updating the book to Yii 2 right now)
- Most developers are (and should be) using Yii 1 for the near future
- Completing the entire book in Yii 1 will make the changes to Yii 2 that much more obvious and easier to highlight when I do the update
Tentatively thinking, here’s how I am hoping things play out (with the obvious caveat that I can’t be trusted when it comes to my timelines):
- I’m very close to finishing Chapter 20, “Working with Third-Party Libraries”. (In fact, working on that more once I post this.)
- Within the next month, I’ll also finish Chapter 21, “Implementing Unit Tests”. That chapter will complete Part 3 of the book.
- Hopefully by the end of June, I’ll finish the book, as there are only three remaining chapters in Part 4 (Chapter 20 obviates the need for Chapter 24).
- This summer I’ll revise the book for Yii 2.
- Once the book has been revised for Yii 2, and is “stable”, I’ll pursue translations and a print run.
That’s my thinking/wishing, which I believe to be do-able. I also think the timing works out quite well with Yii 2’s progression.
As always, thanks to everyone for their interest in Yii, for their interest in the book, for their patience with a much-delayed and overworked writer, and for all the feedback and support along the way. Do let me know if you have any questions!
