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Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 21:52:39 +0000
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Subject: scalar type hints
From: matt@lamplightdb.co.uk (Matt Parker)

Hello,

First of all, thank you for php.  Secondly, I hope this doesn't come
across as impertinent.

I'm an average user of php.  I don't know enough about programming
languages to contribute
here; but I do try and keep up with what's going on in the php core.

I was curious what the userland view of scalar type hints was, so I
set up a two question
SurveyMonkey poll asking about the current RFC.  To be clear, I don't
think php should be
a democracy; I am not intending to somehow subvert the RFC process.
As I see it, you all
have rather difficult judgements to make about the language, and those
decisions may have
far-reaching consequences.  But I do wonder if 'what do php users
think' might be a useful
additional data point for you when making those judgements.


The first question was 'Did you read the RFC' and the second 'Would
you like the RFC to
pass'.  I set it up Friday morning (GMT) and tweeted it around a bit
(I have a grand total
of 58 followers on twitter).  So this relates to version 0.3

As of now, 306 people have responded, a lot more than I anticipated.
84% said they read
the RFC; > 83% would like it to pass (full responses here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-Q8KRRZV7/, the survey itself here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SDB2V6Z).


I hope this is helpful.




[About the survey].

Settings on Survey Monkey were: randomised order of answers to Q2; one
response only.
I tweeted it, and @ tweeted a few people that I noticed talking about the RFC.
I think it got forwarded on a bit.

Possible problems with it:
1. Not enough responses / it's not representative?
- I'd be happy if others with more prominent twitter presences (let's
face it, that's
not hard) wanted to publicise it.  Although if it goes over 1000
responses I'd have
to stump up a load more cash to SurveyMonkey, so I hope 1000 would be enough ;)

2. It doesn't contain any information.  Everyone knows we all want
scalar type hints,
but a similar result would have been gained with a completely
different approach.
The problem isn't "whether to", it's "how best to", and it's unlikely that those
polled understand the trade-offs.
- Possibly.  Again, I'm surprised by the number of responses, and the
numbers both
reading the RFC and wanting it.  To me, the strongest message is 'please get
something into php 7'.  Watching all this from the outside, I worry
that this will
not be the outcome.