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Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:43:13 +0300
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Inline typecasting / typehinting for classes and interfaces
From: sv_forums@fmethod.com ("Stan Vass")

> Hi!
>
>> Let me ask you - do you think the existing PHP typehints are pointless 
>> too?
>> Do you feel they don't give you enough flexibility? Do you feel they
>> reinvented a language construct for the purpose of saving the typing of 
>> one
>> if clause (per argument) (per method) (per class)?
>
> They are not pointless, but I think they are often misunderstood and not
> used correctly. And they definitely lack flexibility in many cases. But
> they are helpful for one important thing - defining interface between
> the method and the method client. Having strictly typed variables does
> not serve it, and trying to make PHP into half-baked
> half-statically-typed language does not sound like a good idea to me.

All right, your method accepts an array of objects, instances of Foo. How do 
you enforce this contract?

Here's how my proposal enforces it:

function foobar(array $collectionOfFoo) {
    foreach ($collectionOfFoo as Foo $item) {
        ...
    }
}

What's your proposal? From the discussion so far, I'd guess it's peppering 
out code with if-s with the same error written everywhere everytime we check 
the item in an array.

> Because I don't think inventing language constructs for the purpose of
> helping IDEs simulate static typing in dynamically typed language makes
> much sense.

The same applies to typehints, so make up your mind.

Stan