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Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2025 15:46:40 +0000
To: =?utf-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?= <tim@bastelstu.be>
Cc: Ilija Tovilo <tovilo.ilija@gmail.com>, PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Transform void into an alias for null
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From: internals@gpb.moe ("Gina P. Banyard")

On Tuesday, 3 June 2025 at 16:18, Tim D=C3=BCsterhus <tim@bastelstu.be> wro=
te:
> Am 2025-06-03 01:46, schrieb Ilija Tovilo:
>=20
> > IMO, these checks are useful enough not to be removed.
>=20
> I agree with Ilija (and also Rowan).

Well, I'm not sure Ilija and Rowan agree between each other.
AFAIU Ilija thinks void living on its weird island is good.
Meanwhile, Rowan thinks it is somewhat confusing and that void should be a =
subtype of null.

> To me there is an important semantic difference between =E2=80=9Cnot retu=
rning anything=E2=80=9D
> and =E2=80=9Calways returning null=E2=80=9D.
> I believe that `void` being in a distinct type
> hierarchy is the right choice and when considering =E2=80=9Cuntyped retur=
ns=E2=80=9D to
> be soft-deprecated / discouraged, there are no inconsistencies either.

Then our type system is not logical as we have a top type that is not actua=
lly a top type.
This is something that will cause problems for function types, especially i=
f they have generic arguments.
(if not causing weird issues on its own just for generics)

Best regards,

Gina P. Banyard