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Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 16:54:15 +0500
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To: Mike Schinkel <mike@newclarity.net>
Cc: =?UTF-8?Q?Iv=C3=A1n_Arias?= <txigreman@hotmail.com>, 
	"internals@lists.php.net" <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] A little syntactic sugar on array_* function calls?
From: office.hamzaahmad@gmail.com (Hamza Ahmad)

> should array object be passed by value or by reference?
> If we are to have array object, will it be exceptional?

By value. Because array is a data type, we are talking about making it
behave like object. In JavaScript, Arrays, Strings, and Numbers are
objects; they have their respective properties and methods. Still,
when they are passed to a function or a method call, they are passed
by value, not by reference.

We should pass arrays by value because it will let a function or a
method modify it without changing the original array. If we make it a
regular object, it will be a bc break. So, whenever a callable
modifies an array, it will modify a variable out of its scope.

I am talking about attaching some methods and properties to array (or
largely, the string, int and float) type. In your manner, an
exceptional array object that is passed by value, Which will have
"key_first", "key_last", "keys", "values", "length", "type" (if PHP
later introduces typed arrays), and "is_list" as properties, and
"reverse", "flip", "map", "filter", "walk" and so on as methods. Such
methods will be performed on a value, not a variable. In other words:
`[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]->print();` will work. This way, it does not
matter whether one modifies a variable or a value.

According to the implementation of Nikita's extension, there will be
functions attached to each method of a type. To remove this
limitation, what if array is an internal array object?

To make my previous statement regarding making array_* functions as
method aliases for array->* methods, I give the example of mysqli. It
has both ways of interaction, object-oriented and procedural. So, why
not this with arrays?

Regards

On 5/26/21, Mike Schinkel <mike@newclarity.net> wrote:
>
>
>> On May 25, 2021, at 6:28 PM, Iv=C3=A1n Arias <txigreman@hotmail.com> wro=
te:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> It sounds like scalar objects by Nikita:
>> https://github.com/nikic/scalar_objects
>
> Yes, but Nikita wrote this note about technical limitations at the bottom=
 of
> the repo README:
>
> Due to technical limitations, it is not possible to create mutable APIs f=
or
> primitive types. Modifying $self within the methods is not possible (or
> rather, will have no effect, as you'd just be changing a copy).
>
> Does that mean that the scope of Nikita's proof-of-concept could not modi=
fy
> $self, or that it is simply not possible to modify $self given limitation=
s
> inherent in PHP?
>
> Further, does that only apply to scalars, or might possible arrays could =
be
> different?
>
> -Mike