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Date: Fri, 13 May 2016 14:11:26 +0200
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Subject: [RFC] Simple Annotations
From: rasmus@mindplay.dk (Rasmus Schultz)

Dear Internals,

I'm announcing a simplified RFC for annotations:

https://wiki.php.net/rfc/simple-annotations

It's an alternative to the proposed Attributes RFC and the (2010)
Annotations RFC.

I'm attempting with this to describe a feature that is closer to the
language than what is proposed by the Attributes RFC, by permitting
the use of any valid PHP expression as an annotation value.

Where the Attributes RFC proposes new syntax for what is essentially
arrays, this proposal instead permits you to use actual arrays, e.g.
without inventing any new syntax. It also allows you to use values of
any other type, including objects. This makes the proposed feature
more immediately useful, with a minimal learning curve.

Compared with the old Annotations RFC (and Doctrine Annotations, etc.)
this proposal does not attempt to define or enforce any rules about
what annotations are, permitted usage, inheritance rules, etc. -
instead it adds a very simple language feature upon which the
community may choose to build (and evolve) facilities that implement
additional rules and logic.

My hope is that, if we can agree on something very small and simple,
we can defer the more opinionated discussions about rules and logic to
the community.

In my opinion, language features should be simple, and consistent with
the language - I believe the way to do that, is to avoid discussions
about how such as facility should be used, and instead focus on how it
should work. There is a lot of opinion built into the old Annotations
RFC, and into Doctrine - features that attempt to dictate how the
feature should be used. I don't believe the language should dictate
what is or isn't correct or appropriate use.

Please review and comment.

Thanks,
  Rasmus Schultz