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Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:29:13 +0300
Message-ID: <CAEKFTWWizHi4JGUgOvTSXVCE4e7R3ooKnXo0NRgPc8pFCij3MA@mail.gmail.com>
To: Yahav Gindi Bar <g.b.yahav@gmail.com>
Cc: Paul Dragoonis <dragoonis@gmail.com>, internals@lists.php.net
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal: use SomeClass::staticMethod
From: d.giedrius@gmail.com (Giedrius Dubinskas)

On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 2:19 PM, Yahav Gindi Bar <g.b.yahav@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Paul Dragoonis <dragoonis@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Comments inline.
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Giedrius Dubinskas
>> <d.giedrius@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hello Internals!
>> >
>> > I'm just on and off luker here but thought I'll throw in an idea for a
>> > feature I'd love to see in PHP: aliasing static methods.
>> >
>> > Syntax would look something like this:
>> >
>> >   use Namespaced\SomeClass::staticMethod;
>> >   use Some\Foo::bar as fooBar;
>> >
>> >   staticMethod(); // would call Namespaced\SomeClass::staticMethod()
>>
>> Then you're confusing the reader, they think you're calling a
>> function, but you're actually calling a class method. Confusion++

Static method essentially is a function (with elevated access to
containing class) so I don't see much of a problem here.

>>
>> >   fooBar(); // would call Some\Foo::bar()
>>
>> What if a function called staticMethod() already exists, there'd be a
>> bunch of confusion on referring to the right one.

Aliased static method would be translated during compilation and no
additional resolution rules would be required. If one would try to
define a function with same name in same file as alias, that would
result in fatal error just like with class aliases:

  use Foo::bar as fooBar();

  function fooBar() {} // Fatal error: Cannot redeclare ...

>>
>> >
>> > This would make code more readable, by removing the the noise of
>> > repetition of class names. For use cases we can look at Java use cases
>> > for "import static".
>>
>> When you find a function call, you'd have to scroll up to the top of
>> the page to see if it's actually a method alias. In this case being
>> explicit is a good thing, no scrolling, no confusion.

As of now when we see ``fooBar()`` we already have no idea where that
``fooBar`` declaration is. It may be declared in same namespace in
some other file, in global namespace in some other file or built in
function. I don't think that explicit alias in same file adds much
confusion to what we already have.

>> >
>> > Aliasing class constants like that would also be very nice.
>> >
>> > What does everyone think?
>> > Would it be possible in PHP?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Giedrius Dubinskas
>>
>> Not that I don't welcome your suggestions, I encourage them, but for
>> this paritcular one I vote -1 on it.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> >
>> > --
>> > PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
>> > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>> >
>>
>> --
>> PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
>> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> To be honest, I'm not a fan of aliasing - and Paul supplied some of the
> reasons that stands for me.
> When one see an class / function declaration - I think that it'll make
> confuse if he/she'll have to look if this is an alias or not. Besides of
> that, there's still the issue of "overriding existing functions" rules which
> can confuse the user.
>
> Put that aside, if you can bring some example of good practice it'll be
> great :)

I think a good example from top of my head would be PHPUnit testing
framework. It has class PHPUnit_Framework_Assert that contains only
static assertion methods like assertEquals(), assertTrue(), etc. Then
it has class PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase that extends
PHPUnit_Framework_Assert.

AFAICT there is no other reason for this hierarchy except to allow
shorter assertion syntax. Example from PHPUnit manual:

  require_once 'PHPUnit/Framework.php';

  class MessageTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
  {
      public function testMessage()
      {
          $this->assertTrue(FALSE, 'This is a custom message.');
      }
  }

What is more PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase also contains methods
dedicated for mocking like once(), returnValue(), etc. Another
example:

  class StubTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
  {
      public function testReturnArgumentStub()
      {
          // Create a stub for the SomeClass class.
          $stub = $this->getMock('SomeClass');

          // Configure the stub.
          $stub->expects($this->once())
               ->method('doSomething')
               ->with($this->lessThen('something'))
               ->will($this->returnValue(true));

          $this->assertTrue($stub->doSomething('foo'));
          $this->assertTrue($stub->doSomething('bar'));
      }
  }

Note that PHPUnit manual promotes using $this despide the fact that
these methods are ``public static``.

I think assertions and mocking could be decoupled and would be more
readable like this:

  use PHPUnit_Framework_Assert::assertTrue;
  use PHPUnit_Framework_Assert::lessThen;
  use PHPUnit_Framework_MockObject_Matcher::once;
  use PHPUnit_Framework_MockObject_Matcher::returnValue;

  class StubTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
  {
      public function testReturnArgumentStub()
      {
          // Create a stub for the SomeClass class.
          $stub = $this->getMock('SomeClass');

          // Configure the stub.
          $stub->expects(once())
               ->method('doSomething')
               ->with(lessThen('something'))
               ->will(returnValue(true));

          assertTrue($stub->doSomething('foo'));
          assertTrue($stub->doSomething('bar'));
      }
  }


> Regards,
> Yahav.

--
Giedrius Dubinskas