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Date: Fri, 7 May 2021 01:03:38 +0200
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] PHP Language Specification
From: cmbecker69@gmx.de ("Christoph M. Becker")

On 06.05.2021 at 18:37, Micha=C5=82 Marcin Brzuchalski wrote:

> czw., 6 maj 2021, 17:23 u=C5=BCytkownik Sara Golemon <pollita@php.net> n=
apisa=C5=82:
>
>> On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 10:10 AM Micha=C5=82 Marcin Brzuchalski <
>> michal.brzuchalski@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> czw., 6 maj 2021, 16:01 u=C5=BCytkownik Christoph M. Becker <cmbecker6=
9@gmx.de
>>>>
>>> napisa=C5=82:
>>>
>>>> I wonder what to do with the PHP Language Specification[1].  Apparent=
ly,
>>>> the repo is abandoned (last commit was more than a year ago, although
>>>> PHP 8 changed quite some stuff).  If we don't have the bandwidth to
>>>> maintain it, we should mark it as unmaintained, and maybe some of the
>>>> information could be moved to the PHP manual  (I quite like the stric=
t
>>>> syntax specification, which the manual almost completely lacks).
>>>>
>>>
>>> How much effort would it require?
>>> Is there potentially someone who could help with reviews?
>>
>> Which part? Getting it up to date and keeping it there? Or moving the
>> parts we most care about to the manual then abandoning it?
>>
>> I'm actually fairly happy either way, but it does need some TLC.  Some
>> brave soul to step up and yes, "YES! I WILL DEFEND THE LANGUAGE
>> SPECIFICATION!"  Someone with the courage to do the dirty work.  WHO WI=
LL
>> STAND AND FIGHT?!*
>
> I can do this.
> I love language nuances and clear explanations.
> Possibly that would not be fast from my side but I believe this kind of
> project doesn't have to reflect language changes immediately when it com=
es
> to interpreter. Also a lot of time would spend on new content quality bu=
t I
> believe when I ask for a help with not my native English language can
> always find it.
>
> At least I'm brave enough to pick up the gauntlet.
>
> What do you say?

IMHO it is okay if the language specification doesn't reflect languages
changes "immediately", but still not reflecting some PHP 7.1 changes[1]
makes it pretty useless to me.  And of course, this raises the question
which PHP version shoud be documented?  Different branches for each
version, or maybe add comments/changelog entries?

And then there is the even more general question regarding "conforming
implementations".  How many are there?  The language specification has
mostly been written to clarify the supposed behavior for different PHP
implementations, but that doesn't seem to really matter nowadays.  Note
that the test suite has been intended to be used by all conforming
implementations, but in practice isn't used by anybody.

[1] <https://github.com/php/php-langspec/issues/204>

=2D-
Christoph M. Becker