## New features

PHP 5.4.0 offers a wide range of new features:

- Support for traits has been added.
- Short array syntax has been added, e.g. `$a = [1, 2, 3, 4];` or `$a = ['one' => 1, 'two' => 2, 'three' => 3, 'four' => 4];`.
- Function array dereferencing has been added, e.g. `foo()[0]`.
- Closures now support `$this`.
- `<?=` is now always available, regardless of the short_open_tag php.ini option.
- Class member access on instantiation has been added, e.g. `(new Foo)->bar()`.
- `Class::{expr}()` syntax is now supported.
- Binary number format has been added, e.g. `0b001001101`.
- Improved parse error messages and improved incompatible arguments warnings.
- The session extension can now track the upload progress of files.
- Built-in development web server in CLI mode.
- The GD extension now supports reading and writing of WebP images via imagecreatefromwebp() and imagewebp(), respectively.