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Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:04:23 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC-Discuss] Scalar Type Declarations v0.5
From: lester@lsces.co.uk (Lester Caine)

On 19/02/15 04:44, Dennis Birkholz wrote:
> I just saw the reddit where you mention that v0.4 is practically
> abandoned now, so I will just renounce my previous mail!

DO NOT USE OTHER CHANNELS!

With the large number of secondary channels the only place that
suggestions like that should be made is here and as far as I have seen
both ideas are still 'active'? But I do find it crass that there is now
a different document with no reference to the v4 history!

What does need unravelling is just which bits go with which discussion
across all of the areas. I'm still looking at how any of this applies to
the values in the arrays I'm passing around and just getting more and
more confused. What I think I want is a set of functions to replace all
this casting mess. Rather than is_bool ... as_bool similarly as_int64
rather than getting an automatic float. I want to ask to look at a
variable in the array as the type I need for the job in hand now you may
say that is 'casting' but you are not providing me with the casts *I*
and many other database users need.

I can see the 'advantage' of optimizing code via this strict stuff that
some people want, but I don't see that has any place in a 'run only'
version of PHP. If you want to compile the code then use a port of PHP
that is compiled. Leave those of use who prefer the more dynamic system
which may well have to deal differently with a scalar variable depending
on what is returned at runtime.

On the minus side of this drive to 'optimize' the code is the potential
for completely different code on 32bit systems over 64bit ones. If the
number is below 32bit then a completely different set of code gets used
using only 32bit instructions. This may well be good for speed, but can
introduce cross platform differences that may be difficult to debug. We
currently live with those problems already with the int->float agro on
64bit numbers.

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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