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Message-ID: <4C7634A2-885B-437B-B765-C82C2B93143B@benramsey.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 10:27:39 -0600
Cc: Dik Takken <dik.takken@gmail.com>
To: "internals@lists.php.net" <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: __repr() magic method (was Re: Proposal: short_var_export($value,
 bool $return=false, int $flags=0))
From: ben@benramsey.com (Ben Ramsey)

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> On Jan 20, 2021, at 09:43, Dik Takken <dik.takken@gmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> On 19-01-2021 16:12, tyson andre wrote:
>> It seems inconsistent and prone to bugs when refactoring (e.g. =
converting to string and not using the result)
>> to have two functions named var_export where one prints by default =
and the other doesn't, but otherwise .
>> Changing to a different name entirely would solve that, such as =
var_repr(), var_representation(), serialize_[value_]as_php_snippet(), =
etc.
>>=20
>=20
> I am considering to try and introduce a __repr() magic method that is
> similar to the __repr__() method from Python. Having a var_repr() =
method
> which does not use the __repr() method would be confusing. So I would
> like to suggest not to use that name.
>=20
> As the intent of the resulting string is to obtain PHP code that will
> construct the variable, another option might be: var_constructor().
>=20
> Regards,
> Dik Takken


Taking this to a new thread so I don=E2=80=99t derail the =
`short_var_export()` thread.

Dik, I like this addition, but I think the name =E2=80=9Crepr=E2=80=9D =
might be confusing to PHP developers who aren=E2=80=99t familiar with =
Python idioms. PHP function names and coding standards within the =
community tend to lean more toward verbosity than terseness, when it =
comes to naming things.

Perhaps we should follow the lead of `__toString()` and use =
`__toRepresentation()`? Maybe also introduce a `Representable` =
interface, like `Stringable`? https://wiki.php.net/rfc/stringable

Cheers,
Ben



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