Extends the .NET language family with PHP version 5

• PHP code compiled into MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) byte-code and metadata
• compiled functions, classes and interfaces can be used from other .NET languages (like C#)
• type inheritance preserved – each PHP class or interface declaration corresponds to one CLI type
• PHP code can call methods declared in the Phalanger's Class Library (methods annotated by certain metadata are visible to PHP code)
• classes defined in Phalanger's Class Library which inherits from common supertype (PhpObject) can be instantiated and inherited from PHP code
• the Class Library can be extended by user code written in any .NET language provided some requirements are fulfilled

Enables creation of ASP.NET applications made of existing PHP scripts

• development of ASP.NET web applications made up from existing PHP scripts
• scripts are compiled automatically and gradually as requests incoming
• scripts are watched for modifications and recompilation is performed if necessary
• enables web application to be configured using hierarchy of Web.config files
• web server is not needed to be restarted when configuration changes

Compiles PHP scripts to achieve a significant speed-up of application execution

• compiled scripts run faster than interpreted ones and even those sped-up by PHP encoders (see benchmarks)
• console applications written in PHP are compiled into single-module executable .NET assemblies
• libraries of PHP classes, interfaces, constants and functions are compiled into single-module .NET assemblies

Provides .NET application developers with all the PHP libraries

• more than 450 PHP functions implemented in the Phalanger Class Library
• all PHP extensions are available to any other .NET language via managed wrappers
• managed wrappers encapsulates native extension dlls with a managed layer hiding implementation details of extension dlls
• native extensions can be hosted in separate process to isolate native code from web server's address space
• communication with isolated extensions via .NET Remoting with shared memory channel

Integrates the PHP language into Microsoft Visual Studio .NET

• a new type of project for PHP console applications and libraries
• syntax highlighting
• syntax checking
• integrated project building
• simple tracing using compiler-generated debug symbols (experimental in this version)