Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:65603
Mailing-List: contact internals-help@lists.php.net; run by ezmlm
Received-SPF: pass (pb1.pair.com: domain gmail.com designates 209.85.219.51 as permitted sender)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2013 18:51:51 -0800
Message-ID: <5FC22A05-FE01-4222-892C-773ECC39E471@gmail.com>
To: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1283)
Subject: Questioning the future of PHP
From: shadda@gmail.com (Matt Wilson)

Hello all. I'd like to start by saying that I am by no means an expert =
on the subject at hand, and my knowledge is limited to pretty much basic =
C/C++. I have done little more than patch and write ad hoc extensions =
for PHP in the past. I'm not looking to criticize so much, as I'm just =
interested in an honest discussion, for my own sake and understanding.

Many years ago I was on this internals list lamenting that PHP lacked =
namespaces. I was passionate in my conviction that it couldn't be a true =
language if it lacked them. But it wasn't until they were finally being =
considered that I realized the one weakness in PHP that prevented a =
proper namespace system. The autoload problem. Since PHP lacks an =
inherent style of code importation, it is a decision largely left up to =
the developer. This of course causes an order of precedence problem.

Now, I won't lie, some of my beef with namespaces as they stand is the =
\. What can I say, I like a certain feng shui in my code. I understand =
the technical limitations (or at least think I do) and the problem of =
ambiguity with other operators, however I feel more effort might have =
been made.=20

If I were to pull some examples out of my ass, and feel free to rebuke =
me if I'm missing something obvious,

[namespace foo.bar]

new [foo.bar.SomeClass]()

Would that be so hard to distinguish in the parser? If it is, I'd be =
grateful to know why.

Touching back on what I mentioned earlier about PHP not having an =
inherent way to load files, and in daily use it's somewhat arbitrary. I =
share the philosophy that the programmer should tell the code what to =
do, and not the other way around; however, I think some enforced =
structure can be good. This is something of a wet dream of mine and one =
I highly doubt will come true, but to get rid of __autoload (or at least =
supplant it with a default loader) would be a dream. I think it's =
something that PHP needs, to complete some one of advances its made in =
recent years.=20

Thanks,
Matt