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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2019 13:56:11 -0400
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To: David Negrier <d.negrier@thecodingmachine.com>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Reclassifying some PHP functions warning as exceptions
From: mike@newclarity.net (Mike Schinkel)

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> On Oct 21, 2019, at 5:10 AM, David Negrier =
<d.negrier@thecodingmachine.com> wrote:
>=20
> Hey list,
>=20
> TL;DR:
>=20
> I'm considering writing an RFC (and a patch) to turn some warning into
> exceptions in a number of PHP functions.
> I would first like to gather some feedback here.

JMTCW, which is an opinion admittedly probably not shared by most who =
work with PHP, but I find exceptions problematic and try to avoid them =
whenever possible.  I have again included this list of references[1-6] =
to explain why I found them problematic, which I had mentioned just =
yesterday on an unrelated message to this list.

The idea that functions that I could previously dealt with in four lines =
of code:
$filepath =3D __DIR__ . '/foobar.json';
if (false =3D=3D=3D ($content =3D file_get_contents($filepath)) ) {
   error_log( sprintf("failed to open '%s'", $filepath ));
   return false;
}
Will potentially now requires me to add a second brace-enclosed block =
and two more lines of code and force me to handle varying exception =
classes causes me to cringe and will make me want to cry:

$filepath =3D __DIR__ . '/foobar.json';
try {
   $content =3D file_get_contents( $filepath );
} catch (Exception $exception) {
   error_log( sprintf( "failed to open '%s'", $filepath ) );
   return false;
}

Since I know that many in the PHP world believe that exceptions are a =
good thing, I understand that I will be unlikely to change everyone's =
mind and get them to start doing error handling as soon as they discover =
the error rather than just throw it and let some other code that doesn't =
have as much context deal with it. =20

But my hope is at least PHP won't change to force having to use =
try/catch for practically every function call. Such a change might even =
be enough to finally get me to give up on PHP and move full time to Go =
because it will make coding in PHP so tedious.

For me to support such a change =E2=80=94 not that I have a vote =E2=80=94=
 I would ask we add a pragma that could be set at the top of every file =
that specifies that functions throw exceptions or return errors, and for =
BC please make the lack of such pragma to default to returning errors. =20=


Or better yet, accept Benjamin Morel's suggestion to create a brand new =
API for this rather than attempting to fix the existing one.

One of the other. Please.

-Mike
P.S. Frankly =E2=80=94 in my perfect world =E2=80=94 we would have =
options to not throw Exceptions for everything that currently throws an =
exception and instead return an Error object value that indicates the =
error.  They could even return the Exception =E2=80=94 that would work =
=E2=80=94 just don't throw them so I do not have to set up a =
`try{}catch(Execption $e){}` construct.

Just the other day I had to deal with the fact PhpStorm flags functions =
that return Exceptions if I don't handle them, and `new DateTime()` =
throws an Exception because it's optional parameter could cause a =
failure, even though I was not passing in any parameter. I had to wrap =
in my own `TryCatch()` function that basically just buries the Exception =
to get PhpStorm to stop complaining.

But I do not hold out much hope for having an option to bypass all =
Exception ever being accepted by the PHP community.

[1] http://www.lighterra.com/papers/exceptionsharmful/
[2] https://sidburn.github.io/blog/2016/03/25/exceptions-are-evil
[3] http://xahlee.info/comp/why_i_hate_exceptions.html
[4] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2003/10/13/13/
[5] https://mortoray.com/2012/04/02/everything-wrong-with-exceptions/
[6] https://www.atlassian.com/blog/archives/exceptions_are_bad=

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