// the find
laruence/php7-internal
Understanding PHP7 Internal articles
Two Chinese-language articles by PHP core contributor Laruence explaining PHP 7 internals: how zval (the fundamental value container) works and how references are implemented at the C level. Aimed at PHP developers who want to understand what's happening under the hood when they assign or pass values.
Written by someone who actually works on the PHP engine, not a secondary source. The zval article explains the union-based struct changes from PHP 5 to 7 with actual C code and memory layout diagrams. The reference article demystifies one of PHP's most confusing runtime behaviors with concrete examples that show exactly when refcount splits happen.
Abandoned in March 2017 — covers PHP 7.0/7.1 internals that have since shifted in PHP 7.4, 8.0, and 8.1 (JIT alone changed a lot). Only two articles were ever published despite the plural name. Everything is in Chinese, so non-readers get nothing without a translation tool. No companion code beyond a single demo.c file.