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To: "Gregory Beaver" <greg@chiaraquartet.net>,
	"Christian Schneider" <cschneid@cschneid.com>
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Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:44:50 -0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] namespace separator and whining
From: steph@php.net ("Steph Fox")

Hi Greg, all,

> For this reason, the only resolution that we should be considering is:
>
> classes:
> 1) try ns::class
> 2) autoload ns::class
> 3) fail
>
> functions/constants:
> 1) try ns::function/ns::const
> 2) try internal function/const
> 3) fail.

I see this as giving priority to library authors rather than the average PHP 
user. So here's another option - and if I mention the word INI, will y'all 
promise to read to the end before you shout at me?

We could have an INI_SYSTEM switch.

ns.lookup=Off

means you _have_ to prefix because otherwise resolution will fail with a 
fatal error, but

ns.lookup=On

means that anything not prefixed and not local goes through the full lookup, 
i.e. it does what is currently done outside a namespace context.

You'd switch ns.lookup off during development and on in production, and the 
default would be on. Prefixed elements would be found at the first try 
regardless of the setting, but would fail after a single check for a global 
value if the element is not found when the setting's off. Non-prefixed code 
would fail when the setting's off, but would otherwise get by except in 
cases of ambiguity (easily remedied with a '\'). It would, however, run 
slower and be more prone to conflict, particularly in complex sites or 
applications.

We make it very, very clear in the docs that prefixing is best practice, but 
at the same time we allow John Doe to import a couple of namespaced 
libraries without putting him through prefix hell.

What am I missing?

- Steph