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Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:26:19 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Partial Function Application for instance of
 non-static methods ("$this")
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From: imsop.php@rwec.co.uk ("Rowan Tommins [IMSoP]")

On 22/01/2026 16:08, Tim Düsterhus wrote:
> Yes, it certainly requires some getting used to it. It's the best we 
> could come up with, but if there are any better suggestions, we're 
> open to hearing those. I'd like to note the “Rejected Features” 
> section, since it lists some non-workable alternatives we considered. 


Looking at this:

 > PHP itself already has "ALGOL-style" declarations, for "const", 
"global", and "static".

I'm reminded of placeholders in PostgreSQL; the type is needed to choose 
overloaded functions and operators, so this doesn't compile (without 
extra metadata):

Select do_something(?) as result

Instead, you can insert a dummy cast to indicate the type:

Select do_something(?::int) as result


The PHP equivalent would be something like this:

$f = (DateTimeImmutable)?->format('c');

Or, slightly more readable but less consistent with casts:

$f = (? as DateTimeImmutable)->format('c');


That doesn't solve the second part of the problem though:

 > It would also not allow to reorder the parameters in the resulting 
Closure, which is an explicit feature of Partial Function Application.


I thought I'd throw it out there anyway in case it stimulates any other 
ideas.


-- 
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]