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In-Reply-To: <FB70FDD7-53AA-4DB4-B747-6E109BE52C2E@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 May 2019 09:59:57 -0500
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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Message-ID: <384B1934-FC7A-414D-BC31-E5521B2F0E17@benramsey.com>
References: <FB70FDD7-53AA-4DB4-B747-6E109BE52C2E@gmail.com>
To: Steven Wade <stevenwadejr@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal for a RFC
From: ben@benramsey.com (Ben Ramsey)


> On May 4, 2019, at 09:58, Steven Wade <stevenwadejr@gmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> Hi Internals team!
>=20
> I have an idea for a feature that I'd love to see in the language one day a=
nd wanted to run the idea by you all.=20
>=20
> The idea is to add a new magic method "__toArray()" that would allow a dev=
eloper to specifiy how a class is cast to an array. The idea is the same men=
tality of __toString(), but, for arrays.
>=20
> I would personally love this feature and those I've run it by were also ex=
cited by the idea. So I'm soliciting feedback in hopes that things go well a=
nd I can officially write the RFC. As for implementation, Sara Golemon is aw=
esome and while chatting a few months back, knocked out a proof-of-concept i=
mplementation <https://github.com/sgolemon/php-src/tree/experimental.toarray=
>.  There's still work to be done if this proposal gets to the RFC phase, bu=
t again, just gauging interest here.
>=20
> I appreciate any feedback you all can provide.
>=20
> Thanks,
>=20
> - Steven Wade

Using existing language functionality, would it satisfy the similar needs if=
 you implement IteratorAggregate and return an ArrayIterator from the getIte=
rator() method? Obviously, the (array) cast wouldn=E2=80=99t use this, but y=
ou could do $object->getIterator()->getArrayCopy().

I=E2=80=99m not against the proposal. I=E2=80=99m mainly asking if there are=
 other ways in the language today to accomplish similar things. I would pref=
er to see interfaces used over more magic methods (something like ArraySeria=
lizable).

-Ben=