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To: internals <internals@lists.php.net>, "Andrew Faulds"
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Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:12:14 +0200
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Pseudo-objects (methods on arrays, strings, etc.)
From: glopes@nebm.ist.utl.pt ("Gustavo Lopes")

Em Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:27:10 +0200, Andrew Faulds <ajfweb@googlemail.com>  
escreveu:

> Through its history, PHP has slowly become more object-oriented. PHP
> today has classes, interfaces, objects, namespaces, and so on.
> However, much of the language's core functionality is entirely
> procedural, composed of functions and constants, much of which are
> badly organised and inconsistently named.
>
> I think PHP could benefit from making arrays, strings, integers,
> floats, and possibly booleans, into "pseudo-objects". By this I mean
> that they are not really objects (they are still primitive types and
> keep their passing semantics), but they have methods. For instance,
> instead of array_keys($array), one could do $array->keys();
>
> Adding this would make PHP feel more modern and allow people to
> embrace more object-oriented programming styles. As a bonus, it would
> also give a chance to make the string/array/etc functions better and
> more consistently named and possibly implemented.
>

As I said in IRC, I have some reservations about this.

Let's ignore empty arguments like "make[s] PHP feel modern". That aside,  
the main argument advanced in this message makes no sense. Adding method  
call syntax to arrays hardly makes PHP more object oriented. Syntax is  
unimportant. There's no substantial difference between array_slice($arr,  
...) and $arr->slice(...). Object orientation is about polymorphism,  
encapsulation, inheritance, etc. None of that is advanced by the proposed  
change. And even if it was, you would still have to justify why that would  
be a positive development.

Plus, it's very odd to claim this would make PHP more object oriented when  
there are no objects involved! I don't think it's necessary to enumerate  
all the differences between objects and arrays -- one that would be  
particularly confusing would be the different passing semantics (or more  
accurately, different levels of indirection).

There is, in my opinion, *one* merit here -- redesigning -- and perhaps  
reimplementing -- the arrays functions API. This will require a lot of  
work, thought, and time tough.

-- 
Gustavo Lopes