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Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:20:58 -0500
Cc: Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@lerdorf.com>,
 Keloran <ava3ar@gmail.com>,
 Dmitri Snytkine <dsnytkine@ultralogistics.com>,
 Alain Williams <addw@phcomp.co.uk>,
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To: Paul Dragoonis <dragoonis@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Return Type Hinting for Methods RFC
From: will.fitch@gmail.com (Will Fitch)


On Dec 22, 2011, at 1:50 PM, Paul Dragoonis wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 6:41 PM, Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@lerdorf.com> =
wrote:
>=20
>> On 12/22/2011 07:08 AM, Keloran wrote:
>>> i would love to see this expanded aswell (the way type hinting on
>> function
>>> variables was supposed to be), so that it could be
>>>=20
>>> string, int
>>>=20
>>> e.g.
>>> function int test(bool $tester) {
>>> if ($tester) { return 5; }
>>> return 99;
>>> }
>>=20
>> Return type hinting needs to be aligned with parameter type hinting, =
and
>> as has been pointed out many times on this list, type hinting for
>> interchangable scalar types is a really bad idea. It will push all =
type
>> checking up to the caller of the underlying functions/methods. PHP is
>> primarily a Web scripting language and the Web isn't typed. Having =
stuff
>> like this break:
>>=20
>> if(age_check($_POST['age'])) { do_stuff(); }
>>=20
>> because the author of the age_check() function added an int type hint
>> just doesn't make any sense. It would cause everyone to have to start
>> casting things everywhere, just in case. eg.
>>=20
>> if(age_check((int)$_POST['age'])) { do_stuff(); }
>>=20
>> This is not a step forward. If the author of age_check() really =
doesn't
>> want to accept type-juggled arguments, then it is easy enough to do a
>> strict type check in the function itself. This puts the effort in the
>> correct place and doesn't encourage this type of coding.
>>=20
>=20
> I agree with Rasmus.
>=20
> My opinion:
> This isn't java, if you want a strongly typed language, there's plenty =
out
> there, but we're not looking to make PHP more like Java and the rest, =
if it
> was like Java then it wouldn't have been successful for the web as it
> is/was. PHP is popular because of the way it was from the start, if =
php
> _needed_ scalar typehints then it wouldn't have been as popular.
>=20
> There is need for the existing Typehinting for class types so you =
don't
> need to have is_a() function calls. This makes sense.
>=20
> Scalars are VERY powerful in PHP, because of its loose typed nature. =
Having
> a 'numeric' typehint makes sense, because it can be an int, float, or
> string. Adding typehints like 'int' and 'float' will only piss people =
off,
> and make PHP more difficult and less fluent to code in.
>=20
> Lets not go there please..

I agree.  Let's not go there.  I'd like to focus more on the actual RFC =
at hand.  It makes sense to discuss potentials and what if's, but type =
hinting scalars has been shot down many times - the most important being =
that it would destroy the loosely typed nature of scalars.

>=20
> Thanks,
> Paul Dragoonis.
>=20
>=20
>=20
>>=20
>> -Rasmus
>>=20
>> --
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>>=20
>>=20