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Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 18:37:33 -0400
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To: Chase Peeler <chasepeeler@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Deprecate dynamic properties
From: mike@newclarity.net (Mike Schinkel)

> On Aug 25, 2021, at 10:04 AM, Chase Peeler <chasepeeler@gmail.com> =
wrote:
>=20
> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 9:51 AM Rowan Tommins =
<rowan.collins@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>=20
>> On 25/08/2021 13:45, Nikita Popov wrote:
>>=20
>>> We obviously need to keep support for dynamic properties on =
stdClass,
>>> and if we do so, I would expect that to apply to subclasses as well.
>>=20
>> Does that actually follow, though? Right now, there is no advantage =
to
>> extending stdClass, so no reason to expect existing code to do so, =
and
>> no reason for people doing so to expect it to affect behaviour.
>>=20
>>=20
>>> Second, I consider "extends stdClass" to be something of a =
last-ditch
>>> option. If you encounter a dynamic property deprecation warning, you
>>> should generally resolve it in some other way, and only fall back to
>>> "extends stdClass" as the final option.
>>=20
>>=20
>> That's a reasonable argument in terms of the multiple inheritance =
case.
>>=20
>> My concern about the name remains though: people already do get =
confused
>> by the name "stdClass", because it's not in any way "standard", and
>> tells you nothing about what it does.
>>=20
>> Reading "class Foo extends stdClass" gives the reader no clues what
>> magic behaviour is being inherited; "class Foo extends DynamicObject"
>> would be much more clear. Similarly, "$foo =3D new DynamicObject;
>> $foo->bar =3D 42;" is clearer than "$foo =3D new stdClass; $foo->bar =
=3D 42;"
>>=20
>> Regards,
>>=20
>> --
>> Rowan Tommins
>> [IMSoP]
>>=20
>> --
>> PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
>> To unsubscribe, visit: https://www.php.net/unsub.php
>>=20
>>=20
> Please don't do this. Call it bad coding practices or not, but this =
was
> something I've considered a feature of PHP and have actually built =
things
> around it. It's not something that can be easily refactored since it =
was
> part of the design.

While I tend to really object to BC breakage, when I saw this proposal I =
was all for it because it disallows a practice that I have seen used all =
too often in cases where there was no good reason to not declare the =
properties, and I know that to be fact because the cases I am referring =
to are ones where I refactored to use declared properties.

That said, I'd be really interested in seeing use-cases where having =
dynamic properties is essential to an architecture and where it could =
not be easily refactored.  I cannot envision any, but I am sure that I =
am just limited by the extent of my vision and so would like to know =
what those use-cases would be.

---------

Speaking of, it would seem like if dynamic properties were to be =
deprecated PHP should also add a function that would allow registering a =
callable as global hook to be called every time ANY object has a =
property dynamically accessed or assigned =E2=80=94 conceptually like =
how spl_autoload_register() works =E2=80=94 so that developers could run =
their programs to see what properties are used.  The hook could collect =
class names, property names and data types to help developers who need =
to update their code discover the information required for their class =
declarations.  Because doing it manually is a real PITA.  As would be =
adding __get()/__set() to every class when you have lots of classes and =
you'd need to delete all that code later anyway.

-Mike=