The PHP native JSON extension has been bundled and compiled with PHP by default since version 5.2.0. Because the minimum version of PHP required by WordPress is now 5.6.20 (see #46594 and [45058]), JSON extension related polyfills and backwards compatibility code can now be removed.
Since there are still some plugins and themes that utilize the `Services_JSON` class, these classes will remain for the time being, but including the `wp-includes/class-json.php` file and creating `Services_JSON` instances will now throw deprecated notices.
See #47699.
Props jrf, Clorith, pento.
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PHP used to allow both square brackets and curly braces to be used interchangeably for accessing array elements and string offsets. The curly bracket syntax is only allowed in a limited set of cases and can be confusing for people not used to it.
PHP 7.4 will deprecate the curly brace syntax for accessing array elements and string offsets and it is expected that support will be completely removed in PHP 8.0.
Ref: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecate_curly_braces_array_access
See #47751.
Props jrf.
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PHP7 is deprecating PHP4 style constructors, so we need to modify our code to have _construct methods that fire before the named PHP4 style constructors. The PHP4 style constructors will call the PHP5 style constructor in case it is being called directly (usually via parent::METHOD).
This modifies external libraries to add PHP5 style constructors, but doesn't add a notice for when they are used. In WordPress core code, PHP4 style constructors are being given a call to _deprecated_constructor. To the PHP4 style constructor I say "I know that I can't take no more | It ain't no lie | I wanna see you out that door | Baby, bye, bye, bye..."
Upstream: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/remove_php4_constructors
Props jdgrimes, netweb, jorbin
See #31982
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