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To: "Ford, Mike               [LSS]" <M.Ford@lmu.ac.uk>,
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Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 12:25:57 -0500
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal: Array syntax
From: ilia@prohost.org (Ilia Alshanetsky)

On November 5, 2003 12:01 pm, Ford, Mike [LSS] wrote:
> I don't think the number of characters is the main issue here -- it's about
> having a *nicer* set of characters.  Personally, I'd be still be in favour
> (although not quite as much) if the proposed syntax were [[[1,2,3]]] -- for
> me, it's about having a syntax that shouts *ARRAY* rather than whispers it.
> (Although the reduction in characters is handy -- particularly in a
> construct like ['foo' => ['bar'=>'on', 'baz'=>[2,3,5,7]],
> 'bedrock'=>['rubble'=>['barney', 'betty'], 'flintstone'=>['fred',
> 'wilma']]].)

Sure, now support one of your string array keys/values contains a [ or ] 
character. That would wreak havoc with the readability of the code.

Having 2 separate syntaxes would mean that some devs would use one format and 
the other another. And eventually you'll end up with the same code written in 
2 separate ways within the same script/application because 1 part (older?) 
was written in 1 way and the other (newer) written in another. This makes the 
entire application more difficult to understand and since many people learn 
through modifying scripts you'll create more barriers to entry for new users.

A few more examples how this will cause problems:

$a[1,2,3,4][] = [5,6,7,8][2];

Ilia