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Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20031105104654.0341a970@127.0.0.1>
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:49:55 +0200
To: Christian Schneider <cschneid@cschneid.com>,internals@lists.php.net
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal: Array syntax
From: andi@zend.com (Andi Gutmans)
References: <20031104233306.34859.qmail@pb1.pair.com>

Hi Christian,

Personally I don't like having two ways of doing things. It makes it harder 
for people to read scripts.
However, I think the proposed syntax is significantly more elegant than 
today's array() which makes me think twice about the idea and possibly 
making an exception to the rule. I think it'll improve the look of PHP 
scripts. Also I think people calling methods using call_user_method([$obj, 
"method"]); will find it sexier than the array() syntax.
I guess I think it'd be interesting to see what other's think. Also, 
another point to check is if list() can also be converted into [] because 
having a hybrid wouldn't be too nice.

Andi

At 12:33 AM 11/5/2003 +0100, Christian Schneider wrote:
>I propose to add an alternative (backward compatible) short array creation 
>syntax:
>$a = [ 1, 2, 3 ]; and $a = [ 'a' => 42, 'b' => "foo" ];
>
>It can also be used in function calls:
>img(['src' => "logo.gif", 'alt' => "Logo"]);
>
>Reason behind this change: Arrays are used a lot and should therefore have 
>as little syntactic overhead as possible. And I think the short syntax is 
>also easier to read and write.
>
>A patch for the parser is trivial and is attached for Zend2.
>
>Note: I checked the newsgroup archive but couldn't find a discussion about 
>this. After not hearing back about my proposed enhancement to 
>debug_backtrace() and the dangling comma for function call parameters 
>being rejected I wonder if I'm using the right mailing list for this :-)
>
>- Chris
>
>
>Index: Zend/zend_language_parser.y
>===================================================================
>RCS file: /repository/ZendEngine2/zend_language_parser.y,v
>retrieving revision 1.127
>diff -u -r1.127 zend_language_parser.y
>--- Zend/zend_language_parser.y 19 Oct 2003 08:38:48 -0000      1.127
>+++ Zend/zend_language_parser.y 4 Nov 2003 23:32:12 -0000
>@@ -581,6 +581,7 @@
>         |       '@' { zend_do_begin_silence(&$1 TSRMLS_CC); } expr { 
> zend_do_end_silence(&$1 TSRMLS_CC); $$ = $3; }
>         |       scalar                          { $$ = $1; }
>         |       T_ARRAY '(' array_pair_list ')' { $$ = $3; }
>+       |       '[' array_pair_list ']' { $$ = $2; }
>         |       '`' encaps_list '`'             { zend_do_shell_exec(&$$, 
> &$2 TSRMLS_CC); }
>         |       T_PRINT expr  { zend_do_print(&$$, &$2 TSRMLS_CC); }
>  ;
>
>--
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