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In-Reply-To: <CAFPFaM+cEa2xFDqvkLQk=Qht3KdcGUCBaCj6JcuQxqLmjnf9Pw@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 03:48:28 +0700
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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Message-ID: <0243D3A4-2C15-4B31-81A8-C2E5892913F9@koalephant.com>
References: <CAFPFaM+cEa2xFDqvkLQk=Qht3KdcGUCBaCj6JcuQxqLmjnf9Pw@mail.gmail.com>
To: Girgias <george.banyard@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Deprecation ideas for PHP 8
From: php-lists@koalephant.com (Stephen Reay)


> On 23 Jan 2019, at 03:34, Girgias <george.banyard@gmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> Greetings PHP internals,
> After skimming through the PHP documentation, I came up with a list of
> functions which seem
> reasonable to deprecate as of PHP 8 and I would like to gather some
> opinions from Internals.
> If this seems like it's too early or should be in an RFC draft please =
let
> me know and in case it
> needs an RFC may I have Karma to do so.
> Without further ado here is the list I compiled:
>=20
> PHP Info/Option functions:
>=20
>   - php_sapi_name (use PHP_SAPI constant)
>   - phpversion (use PHP_VERSION constant)
>   - php_uname (use PHP_OS constant)
>=20
> Classes/Objects functions:
>=20
>   - is_a (use instanceof operator)
>   - is_subclass_of (not exactly what it's purpose is but the =
instanceof
>   operator SHOULD be a valid equivalence with another condition if the =
same
>   class must not be used)
>=20
> Function handling functions:
>=20
>   - call_user_func (invoke directly)
>   - call_user_func_array (arguments can be provided with the splat
>   operator (...) as of PHP 5.6
>   - forward_static_call (same reason as call_user_func)
>   - forward_static_cal_array (same reason as call_user_func_array)
>   - func_get_arg (seems unnecessary as of PHP 5.6 with variadic =
functions
>   (splat operator))
>   - func_get_args (same reason as func_get_arg)
>   - func_num_args (same reason as func_get_arg)
>=20
> Variable handling functions:
> Aliases:
>=20
>   - is_double
>   - is_integer
>   - is_long
>   - is_real (already in the deprecation draft for PHP 7.4)
>=20
> Setting var type (can use variable casting nowadays):
>=20
>   - boolval
>   - doubleval
>   - floatval
>   - intval (for arbitrary base change there exists the math function
>   base_convert)
>   - settype
>   - strval
>   - gettype (more on this later [1])
>=20
> String functions aliases:
>=20
>   - chop (alias of rtrim)
>   - join (alias of implode)
>   - strchr (alias of strstr)
>=20
> Maths functions aliases:
>=20
>   - getrandmax
>   - rand (use mt_rand instead)
>   - srand (alias of mt_srand as of PHP 7.1)
>=20
> Filesystem aliases:
>=20
>   - diskfreespace =E2=80=94 Alias of disk_free_space
>   - fputs =E2=80=94  Alias of fwrite
>   - is_writeable =E2=80=94 Alias of is_writable
>   - set_file_buffer =E2=80=94 Alias of stream_set_write_buffer
>=20
> Old signatures:
>=20
>   - implode (historical signature)
>=20
> Controversial idea:
>=20
>   - deprecate array function creation (array())
>=20
>=20
> [1] About gettype:
> The gettype function is really convenient as it can easily provide the =
type
> of a variable without
> needed to use a bunch of conditional checks, it can even as of PHP 7.2
> signal if a resource
> has been closed.
> However, it still returns "double" for a float due to historical =
reasons
> and it seems quite
> complicated to change how it operates currently.
> I have thought of two possible ideas which would allow PHP to return =
float
> instead of double:
>=20
> First, create a new reflection class ReflectionVar:
> This feels even to me like a bit of an overkill more so that something
> simple (a unique function
> call) would require an object instantiation. But it can allow some
> extensions such as the
> Reflection for Reference RFC proposed by nikic (c.f.
> https://wiki.php.net/rfc/reference_reflection)
>=20
> Second, create a new function get_var_type($mixed):
> This would behave exactly the same as the current implementation with =
the
> one difference that
> it would return 'float' instead of 'double'. This new function name =
would
> be more consistent with how the other functions are named (namely
> get_resource_type).
> This implementation has the benefit of keeping it simple but will =
probably
> duplicate code within the engine.
>=20
>=20
> Just to remind these are only ideas and feedback is wholeheartedly
> welcomed. I also probably
> missed some more functions which could be deprecated as of PHP 8 but I =
feel
> this covers
> already a large portion.
>=20
>=20
> Best regards
>=20
> George P. Banyard

is_subclass_of allows checking string class names, instanceof (AFAIK) =
does not.