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Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:15:38 -0700
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To: Andrew Faulds <ajf@ajf.me>
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [proposal + patch] array_pick() function
From: ronabop@gmail.com (Ronald Chmara)

Standard hazing:
1. Tests?
2. Docs?

Annoying if needed whining:
I think "array_pick" and "array_rand" are precisely the kind of
function naming that makes PHP infamous. I would suggest that
array_rand_key() and array_rand_value(), or array_rand() with an
argument to default to key (for BC).

Speed testing: Are there any metrics to support/prove this is faster
than existing PHP calls to do the same thing?

On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Andrew Faulds <ajf@ajf.me> wrote:
>  Hi there,
>
> This is a small function, called array_pick(), which takes one argument
> ($array), an array, and returns the value of a random item.
>
> Much of its usefulness stems from the new short array syntax, which lets you do
> array_pick(["funlogo.png", "coollogo.jpg", "kittens.gif"]);, instead of $a =
> array("funlogo.png", "coollogo.jpg", "kittens.gif"); $a = $a[array_rand($a)];
> It's also useful for picking a random value out of a none-literal array. For
> instance today it would have been handy for my markov chain propaganda generator
> (not the most practical example, I realise.)
>
> However, of course, PHP already has array_rand(), and an equivalent function
> could be implemented in 3 lines of code. The reason I'd like it added to PHP
> though is largely convenience. It's in at least two other languages I use
> (Python's random.choice(), Game Maker/GML's choose()) and I use it quite often
> in different projects (just today I've needed it 4 times in PHP code). It's also
> the logical counterpart to array_rand(), which gets a random key, not a random
> value, so it would help API completeness. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only
> person who wants to fetch a random array value, not a random array key, too.
> It's useful also in the scenario where you want a random value of nested arrays
> ($array['thing']['foo']).
>
> Enough rambling, here's a pull request. https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/142
> <https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/142>
>
> --
> Andrew Faulds
> http://ajf.me/
>
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