Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:78648
Mailing-List: contact internals-help@lists.php.net; run by ezmlm
Received-SPF: pass (pb1.pair.com: domain ajf.me designates 192.64.116.208 as permitted sender)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 8.0 \(1990.1\))
In-Reply-To: <CAEPJdumXG9TC7xG8-YmGbQiwPMzwYvE_jXWvOQuNmz+U_=+ZaQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2014 16:34:20 +0000
Cc: Pierre Joye <pierre.php@gmail.com>,
 Stas Malyshev <smalyshev@sugarcrm.com>,
 Levi Morrison <levim@php.net>,
 PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>,
 Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Message-ID: <1C3F4FA3-ABD5-4F6F-A898-F63AC1C723D5@ajf.me>
References: <CALW=WECCELQOZpqB3foM6T+Qz+0v3hWT-mdTgCmGApEG4vxNcg@mail.gmail.com> <CAGAGxbZfDd5QaQ5iW+_pJzcHDHQztG_H_9JVyv4XT4BDaLVczw@mail.gmail.com> <CADUqk8UNnSL7C5_RDoNNFsdpuBoAFwdmzanaF9+GkeLN_gQkhQ@mail.gmail.com> <CAEZPtU44YsM1s_zJqPhAEu6cbqxh4k=A35qOd_z=XWErNf5wPA@mail.gmail.com> <5457AF2F.90808@php.net> <5457BDB7.8070701@garfieldtech.com> <CAFMT4NrgLzzpMt5Vm_Q84hXJ65U2jjqtLFm=ALYqwtiyxp0LjA@mail.gmail.com> <CAEZPtU4urLHc9FM0GohQJwkZD-TYKTVuPXcUMXsG5cAScHz3mw@mail.gmail.com> <54589A8D.3020607@sugarcrm.com> <CAEZPtU5qfcjCrcWRKW+ETF4uBp46rwVbv9nCdJoSUF+M+wKQdA@mail.gmail.com> <CAEPJdumXG9TC7xG8-YmGbQiwPMzwYvE_jXWvOQuNmz+U_=+ZaQ@mail.gmail.com>
To: Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Annotation PHP 7
From: ajf@ajf.me (Andrea Faulds)


> On 4 Nov 2014, at 10:54, Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de> wrote:
>=20
> I agree with Stas that a much simpler approach is probably realistic.
>=20
> beginning pure speculation here, i see a short array like syntax like:
>=20
> [foo=3D"bar", bar=3D"baz", baz=3D["key": "value"]]
> function annotated_fn() {}
>=20
> Maybe even exactly short array syntax:
>=20
> ["foo"=3D"bar", "bar"=3D"baz", "baz"=3D["key": "value"]]
> function annotated_fn() {}
>=20
> Then $reflectionFunction->getAnnotations() returns an array. Various
> PHP/Userland libraries and frameworks can then stick whatever symantic =
on
> top that they want.

The approach for annotations that I like best would actually be not =
annotations, but Python-style decorators. They=E2=80=99re very simple, =
but very powerful. They would allow you to do annotations, but also add =
extra functionality to functions.

In Python, a decorator is a function (or callable object), and you use =
one like this:

    @some_decorator(foo, bar)
    def myfunc():
        # function source code here

This is actually syntactic sugar for the following:

    def myfunc():
        # function source code here
    myfunc =3D some_decorator(myfunc, foo, bar)

Which would be equivalent to the following PHP code:

    $myfunc =3D function myfunc() {
        # function source code here
    };
    $myfunc =3D some_decorator($myfunc, foo, bar);

Basically, Python decorators allow you to explicitly have a function =
modify a new function before it=E2=80=99s declared. This is pretty =
useful: If your decorator does nothing, it=E2=80=99s just an annotation. =
But you can also use it to add functionality. For example, you might =
make a decorator that does something before and after a function runs.
--
Andrea Faulds
http://ajf.me/