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Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:28:42 +0000
Cc: RQuadling@gmail.com,
 Leigh <leight@gmail.com>,
 PHP Internals List <internals@lists.php.net>
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To: Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Scalar Type Hints v0.2
From: ajf@ajf.me (Andrea Faulds)

Hi Zeev,

> On 14 Jan 2015, at 13:35, Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com> wrote:
>=20
> I don=E2=80=99t think we=E2=80=99re ever going to get consensus.  But =
judging by the feedback to the v0.1 version, I tend to disagree that the =
opposers would have blocked it.  There were certainly opposers =E2=80=93 =
but not that many of them as far as I could tell.  I think it stood a =
good chance to pass at a 2/3.  Unlike strict typing =E2=80=93 we =
didn=E2=80=99t even go to a vote on it, which I think is unfortunate =
(and should be changed, before changing course completely as this v0.2 =
suggests).
> =20
> We=E2=80=99re definitely not going to have consensus on introducing =
both options as per this RFC.  I for one think it=E2=80=99s the worst =
possible option.

It=E2=80=99s certainly possible it would=E2=80=99ve succeeded on =
internals. However, it is also worth considering the opinions of those =
who do not frequent internals and don=E2=80=99t have the right to vote.

=46rom what I can see, the larger PHP community is generally in favour =
of strict typing, and among them, the previous RFC revision was received =
quite poorly. Myself, I might have been somewhat happy with just weak =
hints, but it would upset an awful lot of developers who would like some =
measure of strict typing. Developers who would most likely not use the =
new scalar type hints, because they weren=E2=80=99t strict. And if =
nobody uses them, why add them?

This revision hopes to possibly placate both weak and strict typing =
advocates. Of course, it also will lose some support in that it allows a =
choice. Plus, it gives the user choice, not the API designer, which I =
expect will be somewhat controversial. But I am hopeful.

Thanks.
--
Andrea Faulds
http://ajf.me/