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Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2016 09:23:05 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] PHP Attributes
From: lester@lsces.co.uk (Lester Caine)

On 24/04/16 08:53, Fleshgrinder wrote:
> That is the nature of a feature release, you find many of those in any
> PHP feature release. Think of for instance `yield`, directly results in
> a parse error in older PHP versions.

There are two types of 'BC' problems which need to be catered for. The
easy ones are new features like 'yield' which one simply ignores if
running libraries across several versions of PHP. PHP5.2 code could be
worked to run happily on PHP4, and one could bodge PHP5.3 to run 5.2
code but then it falls over with the features removed in PHP5.4. So
while on can update the code to run in PHP5.4 and still run in 5.2 the
amount of work is not that simple. Add E_STRICT into the picture to
switch on and off other 'modern style' elements and things get trickier
still. Hence my comments about one not simply being able to ignore the
slow drift in breaking BC. One HAS to keep on top of every one which is
why so much code is now stuck on PHP5.2!

Now the move from PHP5.x to 7 has added another layer of complexity that
can be ignored, and is still not fully supported on the various IDE
platforms? Annotation is a key element of my own IDE experience, and
this works reasonably well although I still think the PHPEclipse
extension to Eclipse was MUCH tidier than the PDT one which is all that
is currently supporting PHP7. Simply overloading PHP with new features
that do not then get fully supported in the IDE framework because there
is little need to replace what is CURRENTLY working happily does not
help anybody.

MUCH of what is being discussed does NOT have to be forced into the core
builds of PHP and can simply co-exist in PECL to be played with at
leisure until the perfect solution for that flavour of PHP has developed
and the current, apparently ignored, solutions can be retired. Just as
my own 'typeless' code base, many libraries are improving their docbloc
based annotation to help new users get to grips with all the fine detail
ahead of other changes. We have lost things like the accelerator
extension for ADOdb and I think the power of adding additional third
party extensions to power the less popular developments has also been lost.

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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