Having not used PHP for many years, this does look like a nice set of improvements.
Are there any plans to improve the standard library? For example, looking at the first example from this changelist:
htmlspecialchars($string, double_encode: false);
Wouldn't this be nicer encapsulated as something like:
$encoded = $myString.htmlEncode(double_encode: false);
or
$encoded = String.htmlEncoded($myString, double_encode: false);
I think that's more discoverable/logical than just a strangely named function in the global scope.
