PHP collection libraries in 2026: doctrine, illuminate, loophp, noctud, ramsey

If you've written PHP for any length of time, you've fought the array. It's a hash table, a list, a tuple, and an associative store all crammed into one type, and it silently casts your keys to whatever it feels like. Every serious project eventually reaches for something better. There are a few reasonable places to reach. I wrote one of the five libraries this post covers (noctud/collection). I've tried to be fair, including pointing you at the right library when it isn't mine. Weigh that as yo