PHP 5.4 advantages

example.php

<?php

// Array Literal support
$my_array = [
  'you can use', 
  '[]', 
  'now'
];

// This used to be a parse error in PHP 5.3. 
$some_var = my_func()[0]; 
/**
 * You used to have to do this:
 * $some_var = my_func();
 * $some_var = my_func[0];
*/

// References to $this in closures
class Foo {
  private $value = 0;
  
  public function getTheValueGetter() {
    return function() { return $this->value; };
  }
}
  
// You also get better performance.  

Array Literal support: No wonder it ran fine in my Ironman (PHP 5.4), and yet when I git pull at Jarvis (PHP 5.3), it gave me an error.