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Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 22:53:44 +0200
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Subject: Re: Short syntax for array literals [...]
From: sebastian.deutsch@9elements.com (Sebastian Deutsch)

dont have karma - but I would love it! so +1 here.
would it make sense to write an RFC?

cheers

Sebastian

Stan Vassilev | FM schrieb:
> Hi,
> 
> I hear this often by other developers and I tend to agree with them, that arrays are used often, and often nested, so that having a long syntax for array literals tend to produce less legible code than in other scriping languages.
> 
> $a = array(array(1,2), array(3,4), 5, 6);
> 
> $b = array('a' => 1, 'b' =>2);
> 
> We use arrays in our configurations, in passing complex parameters to functions, fetching information from databases, basically everything. So it adds up.
> 
> Some frameworks have somewhat funny attempts to remedy this by introducing "shortcuts" like this:   function a() { return func_get-args(); }. Of course this doesn't work when you need to specify the key name, and the overhead isn't worth it.
> 
> It looks as there may not be a specific reason not to allow the JS syntax as an alternative syntax (while keeping the current one in parallel):
> 
> $a = [[1, 2], [3, 4], 5, 6];
> 
> $b = ['a' => 1, 'b' =>2];
> 
> There shouldn't be confusion to the parser as the brackets aren't preceded by an identifier.
> 
> Was this discussed before on the list?
> 
> Regards, 
> Stan Vassilev