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Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2018 20:10:27 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV][RFC][DISCUSSION] Collection Inspection
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

On 25/01/2018 14:52, Derick Rethans wrote:
> IMO, it makes a lot more sense to check integrity when creating the
> "array" structure. Instead, I would suggest to add a native Collection
> type, that takes a "type" as argument. They aren't quite full generics,
> but it does 1. fix something; 2. isn't really complicated.
>
> What I am suggesting is to add a new syntax "Collection<$type>",
> mimicking a class, but having a type as "argument":
>
> $a = new Collection<integer>;

So would I be right in thinking this would mean adding basic support for 
generics to the engine, but not letting new ones be defined in userland? 
So, a bit like how internal or extension classes have the ability to do 
more overloading of casts and operators than userland classes?

If so, I like the concept, but wonder whether the parts of the 
implementation it would need are the easy parts of the hard ones. I 
guess not being able to inherit from the generic would get rid of a 
bunch of complexity, but don't really know where else the challenge lies.

Regards,

-- 
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]