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To: Ben Ramsey <ben@benramsey.com>, Mike Schinkel <mike@newclarity.net>
CC: "internals@lists.php.net" <internals@lists.php.net>
Thread-Topic: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Add is_list(mixed $value): bool to check for
 list-like arrays
Thread-Index: AQHW2Vb3g9SKyC+HcUGt0yLwvhDINg==
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2020 18:19:04 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Add is_list(mixed $value): bool to check for
 list-like arrays
From: tysonandre775@hotmail.com (tyson andre)

Hi Ben,=0A=
=0A=
> I don=92t think changing the name changes my concern, but as Tyson=0A=
> pointed out:=0A=
> =0A=
> > These idiosyncrasies of php and unintuitive behaviors existed prior=0A=
> > to this RFC.=0A=
> =0A=
> I=92m generally +1 on this RFC, but as I think about it, maybe there is a=
=0A=
> problem with the name. If we choose to introduce a pure list construct=0A=
> at some point, then `is_list()` may cause confusion (or maybe it won=92t,=
=0A=
> if it can be made to return `true` for a zero-indexed, standard PHP=0A=
> array *and* a `list`, whatever that might look like in the language).=0A=
=0A=
For the possibility of `list` being added to the language:=0A=
The syntax conflict with `list($a) =3D ...` may cause issues with supportin=
g it in the parser,=0A=
and confuse people learning the language,=0A=
but I can still see it as possible since the parser conflict also means tha=
t it wouldn't conflict with existing names (if that were fixed).=0A=
The fact that my RFC is also using "list" to refer to sequential arrays sta=
rting with 0 may encourage that name over vec=0A=
in the future, in combination with SplDoublyLinkedList already existing.=0A=
=0A=
- I guess `list[$a, $b]` may be usable as shorthand for list creation but t=
hat's out of the scope of this rfc=0A=
=0A=
So the naming's definitely a potential concern. My earlier idea of `is_arra=
y_list()` or `is_array_a_list()` may help avoid that ambiguity if that's a =
concern.=0A=
I'd still prefer short terms for common language concepts - zero_indexed is=
n't a commonly used phrase=0A=
=0A=
Cheers,=0A=
Tyson=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=