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Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 19:12:32 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal: Array syntax
From: cm@leetspeak.org (Michael Walter)

>>> $a = [1,2,$b[11]];
>>>
>>> Is that confusing enough for you? ;-)
>>
>>
>>
>> What's confusing about it?
>>
> 
> The fact that $b[11] references an item of an array, while [1,2,$b[11]] 
> assigns values to the array $a. The fact that you (and, probably, most 
> of us) can't tell right off the bat is a clear sign that this is a bad 
> idea, because it's ambiguous and confusing.
> 
> The same line using the current syntax, btw, would have looked like this:
> 
> $a = array (1,3,$b[11]);
Actually, $a = [1,2,$b[11]] would be amazingly clear and expressive in 
comparison with the rather verbose array() version (same thing with the 
swap, btw).

BTW, remember the alternative range syntax [a..b] I mentioned before? If 
you consider Markus Boegers (sp?) iterators extension, wouldn't it be 
top cool to have [a..] syntax, too (yielding an iterator)? And have 
versions of map/filter/reduce support iterators, too? :) Well, just 
thinking out loud, you remember ;)

> As you can see the ambiguity is gone--square brackets are used for one 
> purpose and nothing else.
Actually, do you realize that you use () both for "grouping" and for 
application? I can't see anything wrong with using square brackets for 
array element access and array creation, to be honest.

Cheers,
Michael