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Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 22:40:39 +0200
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To: Andrea Faulds <ajf@ajf.me>
Cc: PHP Internals List <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Deprecation of func_get_args(), call_user_func_array()
 and related API
From: ocramius@gmail.com (Marco Pivetta)

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On 10 October 2014 22:34, Andrea Faulds <ajf@ajf.me> wrote:

>
> On 10 Oct 2014, at 21:27, Marco Pivetta <ocramius@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > While rambling with some code today, I realized that `call_user_func`
> > behaves strangely, appearing and disappearing from stack traces dependi=
ng
> > on versions of PHP. For an example, compare
> > http://3v4l.org/fGpIk#vphp7@20140901, http://3v4l.org/fGpIk#v530 and
> > http://3v4l.org/fGpIk#vhhvm-301.
>
> IIRC this is a bug caused by PHP7 eliminating the call to the function
> entirely, and instead inserting a normal function call opcode. See:
> https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/292421d3a1fcefe88c3017ffdb9f889c39a6c=
8c1/Zend/zend_compile.c#L2777
>
> This could possibly be fixed somehow.
>

Having the stack trace entry there would be enough too.


> > Additionally, it seems like `call_user_func` and similars are impacting
> > performance in some parts of my codebase (event dispatcher logic).
>
> In PHP 7, due to the function call removal, it should be just the same,
> performance-wise, as a normal function call.
>

Good to know! And I suppose no additional stack frame is created either?


> > Therefore, here comes my idea of simply getting rid of `call_user_func`=
,
> > `call_user_func_array`, `func_get_args`, `func_num_args` and
> `func_get_arg`.
> >
> > My plan for it would be to add a deprecation (notice? not sure about
> that)
> > in PHP 5.7, and a complete removal of those methods in PHP 7.0.
> >
> > BC compatibility is easily achieved as variadics (
> > https://wiki.php.net/rfc/variadics) allow for writing cleaner and less
> > complex versions:
>
> =E2=80=9CEasily=E2=80=9D achieved? No. This would break an awful, awful l=
ot of existing
> PHP code with no gain. There=E2=80=99s no need to deprecate it any time s=
oon. The
> variadics syntax is merely a nicer alternative. We should not force peopl=
e
> to rewrite existing code to use it. There is absolutely no need to get ri=
d
> of func_get_args.
>
> I would vote against any such proposal, and I hope others on the list
> would join me in doing so.
>

I'd actually just deprecate any API for which there isn't a use-case
anymore, but that's my own vision.
As I've already demonstrated, a polyfill already exists and is easy to
implement/use too. Exactly like what happened with `register_globals`
(which is much harder to find), it would be a small addition at the
beginning of <whatever-legacy-thing> you are using.

Could you elaborate a bit on this?

Marco Pivetta

http://twitter.com/Ocramius

http://ocramius.github.com/

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