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Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:44:07 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Really Need..
From: nrixham@gmail.com (Nathan Rixham)

Robin Burchell wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 9:39 PM, Nathan Rixham <nrixham@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I've reworded my original mail completely maybe this one will have more
>> feedback (or not)
>>
>> question: Would anybody else like to see, or feel the need for, *optional*
>> type hinting of variables and class properties in PHP?
>>
> 
> I was involved on a thread on exactly this some weeks earlier. I (and
> a few others, though I don't really remember specifics) would very
> much appreciate the possibilities of proper code structure when
> working with large teams that this could help provide :)

it was a thread "q on primatives" i think.. guess who started it *ducks*

> 
> (As to your original proposal, multiple method signatures is something
> I've come across a need for *occasionally*, though personally, I'm not
> a big fan of the feature -- the one place I would like having it is
> __construct().

noted; found the same thing, another specific being that all classes 
have a default no arg constructor so it can be instantiated prior to 
calling the setters even if there's a constructor which demands params.

> Say, you've got an ORM class which is derived for usage:

[snip]
very interesting that you give an ORM example; this is exactly the area 
where I've found the need for this class property type hinting (and on 
web services tbh) - but still, mapping a "private bool $flag" to a 
tinyint(1) is so much easier than mapping a "private $flag" to it 
(complications multiplied somewhat with other data types)

> Yes, I realise that this can be done with retrieving arguments and the
> like, but for such purposes it's not the neatest solution
> syntactically.)

agreed any possible implementation in php feels like more of an 
inefficiant hack tbh (perhaps a bit strong..)?

cheers!