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Cc: "S.A.N" <ua.san.alex@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <56BE04F2.6050603@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:14:42 +0000
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC][VOTE] Allow specifying keys in list()
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

S.A.N wrote on 12/02/2016 15:21:
> It's not just a matter of taste, the object is always passed by
> reference, an array is copied when you change, object literal syntax
> like JSON, sorely lacking in PHP.

Objects are passed by *pointer*, because they're expected to have 
methods that mutate their state in place. An object with arbitrary keys 
is unlikely to have any such methods, so I still don't really see the 
point: if you want to manipulate an array in place, put an & in your 
function signature.

If you actually want an object that contains arbitrary data, just have a 
single property called $data with the array in; that way, you can have 
"real" (declared) properties alongside, e.g.

class CacheItem {
     private $data = [];
     private $last_updated;

     public function __construct($data) {
          $this->data = $data;
          $this->last_updated = time();
     }
}

You could even implement __get and __set so that the keys of $data were 
exposed as though they were public properties.

stdClass has always seemed completely pointless to me, because it 
doesn't provide any encapsulation, and making a "real" object (i.e. a 
declared class, with declared properties) is so easy, and so much more 
powerful.

That's why I call it a matter of taste: if I want a hash, I'll use an 
array, which is already full-featured; if I want an object, I'll define 
a class for it and use at least some OO principles.

Regards,
-- 
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]