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Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:26:20 +0200
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To: Brian Moon <brianm@dealnews.com>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Re: Syntactic improvement to array
From: vladb@pseudo-infinity.ro (Vlad Bosinceanu)

I for one cringe when I see list(), and I'd love to see [$a, $b] = 
array(...) become an alternative to that. Can't say I care that much 
about an alternative syntax for dealing with array creation, but I 
wouldn't mind.

"[]" already suggests "array", and I guess existing developers will have 
no problem picking it up. Newbies would bump into the docs just as they 
currently bump into the array section.

I don't see how an addition like this could affect people's paychecks.

V

Brian Moon wrote:
>> But I have to ask: what's the matter. A good programming language 
>> should not force the developer to program as the language wants. A 
>> good programming language should support the developer in writing 
>> code he likes, the way he likes.
>
> So, you are new to php internal huh? =)
>
> Seriously, the language can not be adapted to every whim of every 
> developer.  Adding several ways to do things was fine when PHP was a 
> neat tool to mess around with.  Now people's paychecks depend on it. 
> IMO, it's a slippery slope to just add things because you can.
>
>> This could be improved by an alternative syntax.
>
> Ah, but not all see it as an improvement.  Peronsally, every time I 
> see this type of syntax in perl or javascript, I cringe.  Luckily I 
> don't do much perl.  When I see it in JS, I change it.
>
> The funny thing is that Andi probably could have just commited this to 
> the PHP6 tree and made an announcement.  There would have been ~4 
> replies and it would have been over with.
>