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To: Theodore Brown <theodorejb@outlook.com>, internals
	<internals@lists.php.net>
Thread-Topic: Should hash comments be deprecated?
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Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2020 21:12:27 +0000
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Subject: Re: Should hash comments be deprecated?
From: tysonandre775@hotmail.com (tyson andre)

Hi Theodore,=0A=
=0A=
> Since the #[] attribute syntax is currently winning the vote, [1]=0A=
> it makes me wonder if the use of comments starting with # should be=0A=
> deprecated.=0A=
>=0A=
> Otherwise it seems like we could be setting ourselves up for long-term=0A=
> confusion between attributes and comments, and also inconsistency with=0A=
> other comments (it will no longer be safe to assume that a line can be=0A=
> commented out by simply adding # at the beginning).=0A=
>=0A=
> What do others think?=0A=
=0A=
I don't use # comments in practice that much, and objected to `#[`,=0A=
but I'd imagine there'd be two main objections.=0A=
=0A=
1. Most significantly, existing code would break in the major version where=
 the deprecation became an error.=0A=
   So libraries that stopped being maintained in 2020 or earlier would all =
either need to be forked (and forks would have to be published to composer)=
, locally checked in,=0A=
   be affected by a post-install script, etc - non-technical users of PHP a=
pplications may not do that and delay upgrade to php 9.0 or 10.0.=0A=
=0A=
   I imagine there may be very strong objections to that from others, but m=
ay be wrong, since the invalid # comments would be easy to check for and au=
tomatically fix.=0A=
2. Now that we're probably going to reuse `#<rest>` for one thing, we may e=
nd up using it for other things that would benefit from forwards compatibil=
ity=0A=
   now that applications are already forced to deal with this lexing change=
.=0A=
=0A=
------=0A=
=0A=
Some examples of what php developers hypothetically could do by continuing =
to repurpose #.=0A=
(I have no plans to put any of these forward as RFC)=0A=
=0A=
```=0A=
declare(=0A=
    strict_types =3D 1,=0A=
    #php8.1 very_strict_something =3D 1 // #php8.1 could be a token that's =
treated like the end of a comment in php 8.1+=0A=
)=0A=
=0A=
#[attribute] function() {/*unused closure*/}; some new php81_syntax();=0A=
// a more concise, self-explanatory version of the above that could be used=
 in more places.=0A=
#php8.1 some new php81_syntax();=0A=
=0A=
// A version of assert that is guaranteed not to throw with any ini setting=
s=0A=
// and that can be optimized out in php.ini-production=0A=
#expect($condition);=0A=
=0A=
// Adding a forward compatible syntax to declare that an argument is passed=
 by reference=0A=
// i.e. https://wiki.php.net/rfc/explicit_send_by_ref=0A=
function inc(&$i) { $i++; }=0A=
=0A=
// instead of =0A=
inc(&$i);=0A=
=0A=
// one of these could also be done=0A=
inc(/* & */$i);=0A=
inc(=0A=
    // or #byref=0A=
    #& =0A=
    $i=0A=
);=0A=
```=0A=
=0A=
Regards,=0A=
- Tyson=