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Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 13:04:03 -0700
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Subject: fw: binarycluod-dev / namespaces
From: enigma@turingstudio.com (alex black)

hi all,

I wanted to forward this message along, and also ask some questions:

-Are there any plans to support packages / modules properly? (ala python,
which looks very nice, or I suppose java, etc).

-Are there plans to restore support for namespaces? The current PEAR method
of naming classes is the only sensible one given the engine's capabilities,
but we (and I would imagine they too) find it to be extremely ugly and
inelegant - something forced on us by the missing features in PHP5.

I would like to see full hierarchical namespace support.

-Has anyone thought of including a unitTest framework in pecl, so unit tests
could be tightly integrated with the engine?

-------

Of course all this complaining is because we see the engine has become quite
seriously capable when compared to PHP4 - it's a HUGE leap - but we need
juuuuuuust a little more to really compete with the biggies.

I think PHP, with version 5 - has the potential to be a "major" language -
but it needs just a bit more of a gentle push to get there. I think those
features would do it.

I love python's system of modules: incredibly easy to use and explain, it
works well, and it provides a clear method for structuring code. Something
similar in PHP is welcome, and I trust the PEAR people to help set
guidelines. Of course we would like to contribute to that process as well,
if it happens.

The message:

> yeah, welcome to the gradual let-down that has been the history of PHP5.
> But seriously ... one thing after another was pulled from the language
> since it was hard to get it working properly.  loss of namespaces, magic
> __toString() was made unmagical, recently optional typehinted parameters
> were removed ...
> 
> namespaces would have been a *huge* benefit to PHP.  pobably almost as
> huge as exceptions.  IMO the pear prefix solution is pretty dumb; if
> prefixing makes sense (and it often does), then I think having a unique
> name (like BC_ for Binarycloud) is a lot more reasonable than
> PHP_Framework_Binarycloud_Init, which is what PEAR does (makes the
> category part of the class names).
> 
> I sure hope that namespaces gets reconsidered for 5.1 (which is supposed
> to follow 5.0 fairly quickly, as there are many features now that are
> being postponed due to feature freeze).  things like lack of namespace
> support makes me look increasingly at Mono/ASP.NET for building big OO web
> applications.

<ouch>


_alex


-- 
alex black
founder, ceo
the turing studio, inc.

project leader
binarycloud

mail: root@turingstudio.com
url : http://www.turingstudio.com
tel : 510.666.0074
fax : 510.666.0093