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To: Hans Moog <hans.moog@mkj-computing.de>
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Subject: Re: AW: AW: [PHP-DEV] Method overloading by method signature
From: cschneid@cschneid.com (Christian Schneider)

Hans Moog wrote:
> You are missing something. Using this new feature would be
> voluntarily (it is optional like type hints are already).

Thanks for bringing that up right after I told you that I won't accept 
this argument ;-)

> If you want to code the old way and you don't want to force coders to
> use your functions correctly, you could leave out typehints an check
> the parameters manually.

We don't check the parameters. Automatic type conversion does the right 
thing for us in 99% of the case and the other 1% is handled manually. 
Not checked, handled. Please note the difference.

> You do not use type hints in your functions, thats why you don't
> understand the need of overloding methods by parameter siganture. If
> you would understand the need of type hints for robust applications
> you would understand the need of overloading typehinted methods.

I disagree here:
1. Type hints are not needed for robust applications. That's a myth. 
They don't even make it easier IMHO.
2. Overloading is not necessary, you can use different names if you want 
different flavours of a method. That's clearer and easier to debug (I 
can search in the source code for a function name but not for a 
parameter signature).

> Btw: You could call foo((integer) $x); to ensure the right method is
> called.

That's *exactly* what I want to avoid. Your code ends up being messy for 
no good reason: Solving a problem you created yourself.

> Like I already said, this feature is only require for people writing
> complex web applications, offering api's to 3rdparty coders that are
> very strict. If you are coding a project within your company you can
> rely on the fact, that programmers should know how to use your
> methods, but a 3rdparty coder who extends the functionality of your
> product doesn't know and there should be no chance to crash the
> application.

I don't think we would agree on what's a complex web application here 
(complex being a negative term for me, I'd rather write a simple but 
advanced web application) but even then the API should be simple. And 
simple APIs don't need whips and chains.

And I don't believe in fool proof APIs, only fools can use those ;-)

- Chris