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Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 08:55:40 -0800
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Subject: Re: invalid array key/index not generating notices
From: pollita@php.net (Sara Golemon)

 > I came across a subtle bug a developer introduced into our
 > application.  It took us a month to realize the bug was
 > there because PHP didn't throw a notice.
 >
http://cvs.php.net/viewvc.cgi/ZendEngine2/zend_execute.c?revision=1.755&view=markup

Down inside zend_fetch_dimension_address(), you'll find this block:

switch(Z_TYPE_P(container)) {

   /* ... */

   case IS_NULL: {
     /* for read-mode only */
     if (result) {
       result->var.ptr_ptr = &EG(uninitialized_zval_ptr);
       PZVAL_LOCK(*result->var.ptr_ptr);
     }
     if (type==BP_VAR_W || type==BP_VAR_RW) {
       zend_error(E_WARNING, "Cannot use a NULL value as an array");
     }
     break;
   }

   /* ... */
}

To me, that screams intentional, and since BC trumps reason, this isn't 
going to change.

-Sara