Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:41009
Mailing-List: contact internals-help@lists.php.net; run by ezmlm
Received-SPF: pass (pb1.pair.com: domain zend.com designates 212.25.124.163 as permitted sender)
Message-ID: <48F4E824.7020104@zend.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:42:44 -0700
Organization: Zend Technologies
User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 (Windows/20080914)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Lester Caine <lester@lsces.co.uk>
CC: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
References: <696583.1217.qm@web707.biz.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <037801c92e27$c913f3a0$3ffc1f3e@foxbox> <48F4E520.5050200@lsces.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <48F4E520.5050200@lsces.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] namespaces and alpha3
From: stas@zend.com (Stanislav Malyshev)

Hi!

> Can anybody come up with a good case for why functions and constant 
> should be 'thrown out with the bath water' ?

I can name two:
1. Most (not all, I know, but most) of the use cases for namespaces are 
in the OO realm, and most of the problems they are to serve come from 
that realm too. So at least initially most of the active users, which 
wait for it impatiently, are OO users, and classes are the thing the 
care the most about.
2. Everything becomes so much simpler with only classes. Classes and 
functions have very different usage patterns in PHP, so if we try to 
serve them both we inevitably encounter some "inconsistencies" in how 
they are served, because of the different usage patterns, which may be a 
problem for some purists. I personally don't care too much for 
"inconsistencies" if they serve the user - i.e. allow to do useful 
things easier - but I know there are other approaches.

Please note that doesn't mean we _must_ drop them - I am just presenting 
the argument for it, I am aware of the existence of the arguments 
against too.
-- 
Stanislav Malyshev, Zend Software Architect
stas@zend.com   http://www.zend.com/
(408)253-8829   MSN: stas@zend.com