Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:109698
To: Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de>
CC: PHP Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Thread-Topic: [PHP-DEV] Re: [RFC] Attributes v2
Thread-Index: AQHWFKX7h7lS/adMzU6pjZVUKKg53ah9ej1DgAAb7ACAAAuKCA==
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:46:27 +0000
Message-ID:
 <BYAPR05MB6535A0AE9F8AEC6E228DC37EDED90@BYAPR05MB6535.namprd05.prod.outlook.com>
References:
 <CAEPJdunSr8PkBtSLO8g_JMLzM4cFVnXsQSEMFmu2RN25XT=grw@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAEPJdumeStFzWRcEtU3NjEgmxZ_08wbfyJezhHOEzZbzdNWC=w@mail.gmail.com>
 <BYAPR05MB6535096AE763314D929B722ADED90@BYAPR05MB6535.namprd05.prod.outlook.com>,<CAEPJdumM7w7_jbmW=2hu8NSO2d8pVukudEg84CcDCAexJK108g@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:
 <CAEPJdumM7w7_jbmW=2hu8NSO2d8pVukudEg84CcDCAexJK108g@mail.gmail.com>
Accept-Language: en-US
Content-Language: en-US
x-ms-exchange-messagesentrepresentingtype: 1
x-tmn: [gY11Glh0A8m17+YXhnYGJ2gNhj0Du2Lq]
x-ms-publictraffictype: Email
x-incomingheadercount: 46
x-eopattributedmessage: 0
x-ms-office365-filtering-correlation-id: 81ee9532-54af-4c19-a03d-08d7e2ffa32f
x-ms-traffictypediagnostic: MW2NAM12HT011:
x-microsoft-antispam: BCL:0;
x-microsoft-antispam-message-info:
 tGmjQ60yIo4QOSni8fCObVail1NJzkeHgGmuzVzp7Qwo5eJQrAdtFgglJ1RWd5FIYz5Sy/+TsTFlrqjLUS3pzr/Kg+dKGKwrk28QqsVFSUn/TGYPAVrxxgk6KBon1HAM9u6eDSPeMM/mIxoq9bUiIkcNRKAbX5S4OUOWyRKf7U//lmuwXklSKo340+FVbBCYC2e8Q2G9Raz9uoO0BaNKOTF9z8PJemS+Tc8K448P1sTWlVZ8LVnqvhHaWJjB+UUm
x-forefront-antispam-report:
 CIP:255.255.255.255;CTRY:;LANG:en;SCL:0;SRV:;IPV:NLI;SFV:NSPM;H:BYAPR05MB6535.namprd05.prod.outlook.com;PTR:;CAT:NONE;SFTY:;SFS:;DIR:OUT;SFP:1901;
x-ms-exchange-antispam-messagedata:
 BcmyzLHkYCJsdPMIk542AQ0xTM5VduTt/V9l6NnBGeKIJSHwDTSHmiPo5E+sxzCvZ6xIVYaxIJqMeQkjN3NiDZTwm5wJPFDOa50TEFVc5GcvswusLdLvS9cSBKuVi/AzGOmPhoAgzmaQiWQS/9QZ9w==
x-ms-exchange-transport-forked: True
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginatorOrg: outlook.com
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-RMS-PersistedConsumerOrg: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Network-Message-Id: 81ee9532-54af-4c19-a03d-08d7e2ffa32f
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-rms-persistedconsumerorg: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-originalarrivaltime: 17 Apr 2020 18:46:27.7980
 (UTC)
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-fromentityheader: Internet
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-id: 84df9e7f-e9f6-40af-b435-aaaaaaaaaaaa
X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: MW2NAM12HT011
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Re: [RFC] Attributes v2
From: theodorejb@outlook.com (Theodore Brown)

On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 12:43 PM Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de> wro=
te:=0A=
=0A=
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 6:11 PM Theodore Brown <theodorejb@outlook.com> w=
rote:=0A=
> =0A=
> > Can you provide an example of an attribute name containing whitespace=
=0A=
> > that would be allowed with the shift left/right tokens but not with the=
=0A=
> > attribute token?=0A=
> =0A=
> This is about [whitespace] between token and attribute name, so `@:Foo`=
=0A=
> is allowed but `@: Foo` is not. Whereas with the hugging As, `<<Foo>>`=0A=
> and `<< Foo >>` is allowed.=0A=
=0A=
Ah, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification. I guess=0A=
allowing whitespace could also be considered a downside, since it will=0A=
lead to style guide wars about which spacing convention to use.=0A=
=0A=
> This is a personal assumption here, but I would assume 95% of developers=
=0A=
> have never used >> or << before or for a long time and maybe 80% don't=0A=
> even know what bit shift means and how it works. I would think nobody=0A=
> needs this in attributes.=0A=
=0A=
Even if bit shifts are rarely used, the fact that such syntax is valid=0A=
means there's a higher cognitive load when reading attributes to=0A=
understand whether a shift token is part of a parameter value or=0A=
delineating the start/end of an attribute declaration.=0A=
=0A=
Quick, does this function have two attributes with one parameter each,=0A=
or one attribute with two parameters?=0A=
=0A=
```php=0A=
<<SomeAttribute(2 * 3 + 3)>><<Foo(4 + 5 * 2)>>=0A=
function foo() {}=0A=
```=0A=
=0A=
How about this one?=0A=
=0A=
```php=0A=
const Foo =3D 2;=0A=
=0A=
<<SomeAttribute(2 * (3 + 3)>>Foo, (4 + 5) * 2)>>=0A=
function foo() {}=0A=
```=0A=
=0A=
Even if the syntax is technically unambiguous, reusing shift tokens as=0A=
attribute delineators results in symbol-heavy code which is harder to=0A=
quickly and correctly understand.=0A=
=0A=
FWIW Hack is apparently moving away from the shift token attribute=0A=
syntax to one using `@` (see https://github.com/facebook/hhvm/commit/3983bd=
2ca6b252a93d98f2bb2d7e8e89f6f004d1);=0A=
=0A=
Sincerely,=0A=
Theodore=0A=