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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Square brackets shortcut
From: tomi@cumulo.fi (Tomi Kaistila)

> The [] array literal syntax is also used by Javascript, and there's even an
> object literal syntax, {}, which is quite nice.  Does that mean "Javascript
> is classic Perl"?
Yes, the first thing that comes to mind from this syntax is Perl.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
("dharma", "wilma", "greg", "mina")
qw{ wilhelm yaztsee ben madonna }
qw! wilhelm yaztsee ben madonna !
qw[ wilhelm yaztsee ben madonna ]

Does this look familiar? Javascript is not classic Perl but the proposed way 
of assign array values is.

> The [a:b, c:d] syntax would be more JSON-esque, while [a => b] syntax would
> be more consistent with existing PHP.  The latter, I think, would get
> better traction with existing developers and be easier to understand (since
> it uses the same separator character).
If this is implemented, I would agree that sticking as close to the old syntax 
as possible is the best approach.

I would go with the choice B except instead of square brackets use round 
brackets.

$a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
$a = (1 => 'dharma', 2 => 'wilma');

This would be consistent with the old way of assigning array values and will 
probably least confuse both new and old developers.

Tomi Kaistila
PHP Developer