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Message-ID: <CA71F0D2-7620-46E6-A764-4CFBD7CDD349@koalephant.com>
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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2021 12:50:29 +0700
In-Reply-To: <CAKuGYLQJ+xNWv0hvUAObE6U98VYKzc3O9LaBMPggH+S8KNBVKg@mail.gmail.com>
Cc: Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
To: Matthew Brown <matthewmatthew@gmail.com>
References: <CAKuGYLQJ+xNWv0hvUAObE6U98VYKzc3O9LaBMPggH+S8KNBVKg@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Whitespace around Paamayim Nekudotayim (double colon)
From: php-lists@koalephant.com (Stephen Reay)

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> On 15 Feb 2021, at 12:14, Matthew Brown <matthewmatthew@gmail.com> =
wrote:
>=20
> Hey all,
>=20
> Is there interest in prohibiting whitespace around double colons in =
the
> next major PHP version?
>=20
> I was surprised to learn that PHP treats :: similar to ->, allowing =
double
> colons like
>=20
> A::
> b();
>=20
> Looking at the top 2,000 packages in Packagist I can't find any =
evidence of
> people using a double colon with whitespace around, and my suspicion =
is
> that the use of it is basically non-existent.
>=20
> I wonder if there's a benefit to removing a small potential footgun =
from
> the language? I can't really see any benefit to _keeping_ it (unless =
it
> turns out my analysis is wrong, and it's actually wildly popular).
>=20
> Best wishes,
>=20
> Matt


Hi Matt,

As a user-land developer, I would be very much against changing this.

I=E2=80=99m sure it=E2=80=99s probably not a particularly common way to =
format code, but the ability to chain method calls, starting from a =
static call and have it formatted with one method call per-line is quite =
useful IMO, eg:

```
MyModelClass
	::find(1)
	->where(=E2=80=98foo=E2=80=99, time(), =E2=80=98>=E2=80=99)
	->where(=E2=80=98bar=E2=80=99, null, =E2=80=98is not=E2=80=99)
	->readAll();
```



But more generically - I can=E2=80=99t see why you=E2=80=99d think that =
this one particular instance of extra whitespace being insignificant is =
a problem, when extra whitespace is not significant anywhere?

In other worse, can you explain why you think it=E2=80=99s a problem =
that whitespace is not significant in static method calls, but it=E2=80=99=
s not a problem everywhere else where it=E2=80=99s not significant?

The two following examples are the extremes of extra whitespace vs =
minimal whitespace, and your suggestion would introduce an arbitrary =
inconsistency for one specific case.=20

```
<?php namespace Foo; class Bar implements \JsonSerializable { public =
function jsonSerialize(): mixed {return self::class;} public static =
function create(): static { return new static(); }} $f =3D =
Bar::create(); echo \json_encode($f); var_dump($f); ?>
```

```
<?php
namespace
   Foo
;

class
Bar
   implements
   \JsonSerializable
{
   public
   function
   jsonSerialize
   (

   )
   :
   mixed
   {
      return
         self
         ::
         class
         ;
   }

   public
   static
   function
   create
   (

   )
   :
   static
   {
      return
         new
         static
         (

         )
         ;
   }
}
$f
   =3D
   Bar
   ::
   create
   (

   )
;
echo
\json_encode
(
   $f
)
;
var_dump
(
   $f
)
;
   ?>
```


Cheers


Stephen=

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