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Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 22:15:11 +0000
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To: Stanislav Malyshev <smalyshev@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Parameter skipping, take 3
From: ajf@ajf.me (Andrea Faulds)

Hi Stas,

> On 5 Jan 2015, at 22:02, Stanislav Malyshev <smalyshev@gmail.com> =
wrote:
>=20
> For those who doesn't remember, quick reminder - it is about an =
ability
> to skip parameters in function calls so they'd take default value, =
like
> this:
> function foo($a, $b =3D true, $c =3D "abc") { ... }
> foo($x, default, $y); // $b gets to be true here
>=20
> In the last discussion I had a lot of "objections" to the tune of =
"we'd
> rather have named parameters". I like the idea of named parameters =
too,
> but this one does not contradict it - rather, it compliments it, and a
> lot of the extensions cleanup done in this patch also serves as a base
> for possible implementation of named params, if it happens (more on =
that
> in the RFC itself).

Yes, they complement one another. Both exist because of horrible APIs. =
But I don=E2=80=99t think we should encourage horrible APIs.

I don=E2=80=99t want to end up with the Windows API, except in PHP =
style:

CreateWindowEx($foo, default, default, $bar, 0, 0, 100, 100, default, =
default, default, default);

For well-designed functions, there is no need to skip parameters, either =
with a default keyword or with named parameters.

So it=E2=80=99s a firm -1 from me. The solution to horrid APIs isn=E2=80=99=
t to add kludges to the language that make them slightly less painful. =
The solution is to fix them, or add new APIs, that are well designed.

Thanks!

--
Andrea Faulds
http://ajf.me/