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Date: Mon, 07 Dec 2020 09:58:00 -0600
To: "php internals" <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Enumerations
From: larry@garfieldtech.com ("Larry Garfield")

On Mon, Dec 7, 2020, at 9:56 AM, Rowan Tommins wrote:
> On 07/12/2020 15:26, Larry Garfield wrote:
> > Assuming it's feasible to do, what do people feel about supporting t=
hat?  IMO, cases(), from(), and values() need to be kept no matter what =
as they're more self documenting and can be passed around as callables. =
 So the question is just whether we should also try to add casting as an=
 alias to those operations.
>=20
>=20
>  From my experience answering questions about SimpleXML on Stack=20
> Overflow, I can confirm that people find magic behaviour of (string)=20=

> hard to discover and understand, and it's not uncommon to see someone=20=

> write $foo->__toString() because they're more familiar with methods.
>=20
> That's even more true for other casts, e.g. (int)$foo and (float)$foo,=
=20
> which can be supported by built-in classes but not userland ones, so a=
re=20
> even less discoverable.
>=20
> I can see the appeal of overloading cast syntax, but I would personall=
y=20
> be on the "just use explicit methods" side.
>=20
> Regards,
>=20
> --=20
> Rowan Tommins (n=C3=A9 Collins)
> [IMSoP]

I spoke with Ilija and it turns out it would be really hard to do anyway=
, so casts are out.  I rescind my request for feedback on that point. :-=
)

--Larry Garfield