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Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:45:27 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Deprecate dynamic properties
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Tommins)

On 25/08/2021 11:02, Nikita Popov wrote:
> I'd like to propose the deprecation of "dynamic properties", that is
> properties that have not been declared in the class (stdClass and
> __get/__set excluded, of course):
>
> https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecate_dynamic_properties


This is a bold move, and in principle seems sensible, although I'm 
slightly scared how many places will need fixing in legacy code bases.

I have a couple of concerns with using stdClass as the opt-in mechanism:

* The name of that class already leads to a lot of confusion about its 
purpose - it's not actually "standard" in any way, and new users seeing 
it as a base class are even more likely to mistake it as some kind of 
"universal ancestor". Would it be feasible to introduce an alias like 
"DynamicObject" which more clearly defines its role?

* Adding a parent to an existing class isn't always possible, if it 
already inherits from something else. Perhaps the behaviour could also 
be available as a trait, which defined stub __get and __set methods, 
allowing for the replacement of the internal implementation as you've 
described?


Regards,

-- 
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]