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In-Reply-To: <20100119225448.GG3978@phcomp.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:28:40 -0500
Cc: Stanislav Malyshev <stas@zend.com>,
	Daniel Convissor <danielc@analysisandsolutions.com>,
	PHP Internals List <internals@lists.php.net>
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References: <4B54FC87.8070106@zend.com> <4B55EE56.8040104@lerdorf.com> <4B55FA44.1060601@zend.com> <20100119190836.GA17124@panix.com> <4B5608B2.8050308@zend.com> <20100119195724.GA5597@panix.com> <4B561191.2040700@zend.com> <20100119225448.GG3978@phcomp.co.uk>
To: Alain Williams <addw@phcomp.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] function call chaining
From: gwynne@darkrainfall.org (Gwynne Raskind)

On Jan 19, 2010, at 5:54 PM, Alain Williams wrote:
>>> $eep->oop()->ork()->ah()->ah();
>>>=20
>>> the newcomer will have to spend significant time rummaging around =
the
>>> source code to figure out what classes are involved.
>> As opposed to:
>> $oop =3D $eep->oop();
>> $ork =3D $oop->ork();
>> $ah =3D $ork->ah();
>> $ah2 =3D $ah->ah();
>>=20
>> where it instantly becomes crystal clear! Come on, this argument of =
"I=20
>> could read any code without ever knowing anything about anything but =
you=20
>> feature broke it" is getting really stale. You couldn't, and the =
feature=20
>> changed nothing.
> +1
>=20
> At least with $eep->oop()->ork()->ah()->ah() you don't have =
stray/unwanted
> variables hanging round to confuse (or be misused) later.


+1

It also supports the "allocation is not initialization" (or anti-RAII) =
pattern found in languages like Objective-C:

Objective-C:
String *s =3D [[String alloc] initWithFormat:@"I'm a little teapot, %@ =
and %@", @"short", @"stout"];

PHP:
$s =3D (new String)->sprintf("I'm a little teapot, %s and %s", "short", =
"stout");

(Obviously a very, very contrived example, meant only to illustrate the =
pattern.)

-- Gwynne