Announcing a specification for PHP

Post by chriswarbo » Fri, Aug 01, 2014, 12:27 PM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #236

jules wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The far greater wart is passing functions as string names. PHP is so bad that it's hard to imagine that it isn't a giant troll. No amount of modernizing will ever turn PHP into anything close to sane; the amount and depth of craziness is simply too huge.

A lot of languages have ways of calling functions and methods by string names -- PHP just makes it very easy and the design is actually really clean.

    function foo() { echo "Hello world"; }

    $w = 'foo';
    echo $w;  // foo
    $w();     // Hello world
    'foo'();  // PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '('

    function bar() { return 'foo'; }
    $x = bar();
    echo $x;  // foo
    $x();     // Hello world
    bar()();  // PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected '('

    $o = new stdClass;
    $o->baz = 'foo';
    $y = $o->baz;
    echo $y;  // foo
    $y();     // Hello world
    $o->baz();  // PHP Fatal error:  Call to undefined method stdClass::baz()

    $z = function() {
           echo "Hello world";
         };
    $z();  // Hello world
    (function() {
       echo "Hello world";
     })();  // PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected '('

Post by skybrian » Fri, Aug 01, 2014, 4:17 PM UTC

jules wrote: post #250

donatj wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like its callable system is simple, easy to use, and frankly awesome. I can do $func = ['object', 'staticMethodName']; $func = [$instance, 'publicMethodName']; $func = 'functionName'; $func = '\namespaced\functionName'; $func = function(){ ... }; $func = $callableObject; // ( http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.overloading.php#objec... ) I can execute any of the above by calling `$func('doIt');` Moreover al…

The problem is that a function is a thing. A string is a different thing. Imagine if arrays were represented as comma delimited strings, and you had a function isArray to check if a string has the right format to represent an array. That would be ridiculous right? An array should be its own type. The same goes for functions. Representing functions as string names is just as crazy as representing arrays as comma delim…

Post by Kiro » Sat, Aug 02, 2014, 9:23 AM UTC

will_work4tears wrote: post #253

grandsham wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who says Kiro isn't using version control? traditional web hosts provide a level of management that isn't present in VPSes. You may be able to get turnkey instances, but you still have to be responsible for managing them and maintaining them. Vs a traditional webhost where you don't have to worry about all that. You can claim that its "outdated" and "akin to using tables for layout", but its also still a very valid w…

It's a strong implication. Kiro quotes two items from the parent, and says he doesn't want to be bothered with "those" things. Kinda implies he doesn't use git, since that was one of the two items quoted.

Post by wvenable » Sat, Aug 02, 2014, 7:18 PM UTC

Zancarius wrote: post #257

wvenable wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first two I read aren't even WTF the worthy and are perfectly reasonable. Even in the classic fractal of bad design article, only 1/3 of it is actually valid.

I half agree, but I'd like to point out that the likely reason the curator of this site thinks of these as "WTFs" has more to do with PHP's (lack of?) consistency and it's relatively bizarre behavior when compared with saner languages. The other thing to consider (looking at it again, particularly at the second example) is that there are some surprising side effects that can snag newcomers, depending on their backgro…