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Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:11:58 +0400
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=Xf8SW7=bh_2qh9GB5Bbd=kB1cXJcyeoVGPjtk@mail.gmail.com>
To: Josh Davis <phpwnd@gmail.com>
Cc: Stas Malyshev <smalyshev@sugarcrm.com>, Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Strict typing
From: indeyets@gmail.com (Alexey Zakhlestin)

On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 8:56 PM, Josh Davis <phpwnd@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11 August 2010 08:23, Stas Malyshev <smalyshev@sugarcrm.com> wrote:
>
>>> I very much can, it's just not my intention. I want to be able to use
>>> type hinting/type checking as a sanity check. If I write a method
>>> whose signature is foo(int $n) I signal my intention to only accept
>>
>> Then you should use statically typed language.
>
> Yeah, hmm, no, and it is disingenuous of you to equate type hints to
> PHP becoming statically typed. I'm sure that some people would love to
> have optional static typing in parts of their code, but I like being
> able to use my vars freely when I need to. Being able to enforce what
> type of arguments can be passed to my functions and methods would
> allow me to cut down on my parameters validation. Similarly, I like
> using protected methods to prevent users [developers using the code]
> from misusing them or protected properties to prevent users from
> inadvertently modifying them, so that I don't have to worry about the
> application being in an inconsistent state.
>
> PHP being dynamically typed shouldn't be an argument to prevent people
> from enforcing method signatures. You're saying that PHP users should
> have no control over what variable types are passed to their
> functions.

Did you read second RFC? The one which is about "so called" weak typehintin=
g.
Stas (and a lot of people on this list) prefer it.
http://wiki.php.net/rfc/typecheckingstrictandweak

If you did, can you tell if there is some case, when it doesn't work for yo=
u?

The idea is simple:
1) if variable type matches =E2=80=94 variable is passed to function
2) if variable can be safely converted to the type, which matches =E2=80=94
variable is converted and passed to the function (you still get
variable of desired type)
3) if variable can not be safely converted =E2=80=94 error is raised

error is E_STRICT or E_FATAL (not decided yet). anyway, you can handle
it as fatal in error-handler if you need to

this way you (library developer) get your desired data-types for input
and users get freedom to pass numeric strings instead of numbers
good for everyone

--=20
Alexey Zakhlestin
http://www.milkfarmsoft.com/