Startup plugin code for new plugin, including the archetype of standard features, admin and core functions to be used in new plugins.
Yes, it is, as well as with the latest PHP.
I've removed the 'pass-by-reference' call for all array( $this, ... ) entries as it's deprecated since 5.3.0. If you happen to use 5.2.4, you can replace all $this in arrays with &$this or better update PHP version.