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Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2022 10:34:38 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Allowing NULL for some internal functions
From: cschneid@cschneid.com (Christian Schneider)

Am 07.02.2022 um 09:35 schrieb Mark Randall <marandall@php.net>:
> On 07/02/2022 01:27, Craig Francis wrote:
>> I know one person simply said this was a "terribl > idea", but I'm =
still
>> waiting to hear any details on why.
>=20
> I understand your motivations in proposing them, but to my mind it =
goes against the direction that PHP is developing, which I think is the =
right one, where errors and likely errors result in stopping execution =
rather than allowing it continue, potentially silently (dependent on =
error handling settings).

I think some proposals for PHP are going too far with strictness so I =
very much like Crag's RFC.

> If a parameter expects a string, that is what it should be given, and =
its the callers' responsibility to ensure that is the case. If they fail =
to do so then it's an error just like any other.

The decision to define e.g. strlen() as strlen(string $string) instead =
of strlen(?string $string) was arbitrary and I for one would prefer the =
loose definition.

I'm confident that any real world example would abort at an early enough =
stage to catch errors in your program, without something as basic as =
strlen() having to do the job while adding complexity for something as =
simple as "if (strlen($x)) ..".

> IMHO reverting to "If it's a null we'll just pretend its a string" is =
contrary to how the language should be progressing.
> It sucks that it was ever allowed in the first place.

I think we agree to disagree here ;-)

> PHP has a long history of making descisions to try to make things =
'just work', and if history teaches us anything, its that we inevitably =
come to regret these descisions down the line.


PHP has a long history of being a concise, pragmatic language and there =
are many who do not regret this at all.
Finding the right balance is key here.

- Chris