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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Censorship in php
From: tessarek@evermeet.cx (Helmut Tessarek)

On 21.12.13 19:58 , Ronald Chmara wrote:
> Working code wins, always. Whining developers who do not write code for
> their ideas lose.

You so prove my point.

Just because I write code, does not mean it makes it into the product.

> Thousands? No, many, many, millions. If you break PHP, you break Yahoo,
> Wikipedia, Wordpress, Facebook.... many millions of sites. Maybe billions
> at this point.

But changing default behavior does not break things? But this seems to be ok -
at least sometimes. So there are acceptable changes that break millions of
sites and then there are others.

> If you are looking for a language without backwards compatibility, that
> runs most of the internet, I suggest you try to write a new language.

There are many ways to accomplish this task. One would be to create new
functions while the old still exist, use DEPRECATED and WARNING in the log and
gradually phase them out. This gives them time to change their code.

>> Unless you know _exactly_ _every_ settings and _every_ function, you cannot
>> predict what PHP might do.
> So, unless you are fluent in a language, you cannot accurately predict what
> you are saying? This is your argument against it?

I'm saying that PHP's behavior and functions are inconsistent.
Some functions have a certain order for their arguments, others have them
reversed (I know, this is rather a stupid example).
Return values are inconsistent: -1, NULLS, exceptions, ... All of them make
sense, but they should be used consistently across the board.
But theses are just a few examples

> (setting should have been singular, not plural, in your argument, BTW)

Thanks, I wrote 'all' first and replaced it with 'exactly every' and forgot to
remove the s at the end. What's your excuse for misspelling czech?

> Welcome to the internet's dominant programming language. Fork it if you
> want. Crashing a third or half of the internet for a pet feature or change
> is not an option.

I'm not talking about a pet feature, but the consistency of the language.

> Complaining is not code. It is not constructive.

Condescending language and behavior is not constructive either.

> Code always wins. Whining about code, or giving "feedback" on code, doesn't
> win.

No, it doesn't. Only, iff it makes it into the product.

-- 
regards Helmut K. C. Tessarek
lookup http://sks.pkqs.net for KeyID 0xC11F128D

/*
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*/