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Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 22:00:27 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Fix inconsistent behavior of $this variable
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

On 24/05/2016 20:21, Marc Bennewitz wrote:
> As of $this is a very special variable where only the engine is (or 
> should) be allowed to change.
> I would like to ask you if it wouldn't be better to NOT define $this 
> as a special variable
> including a lot of code to make sure this variable doesn't get 
> re-assigned
> but instead define this as a keyword like self where the syntax makes 
> sure it can't be re-assigned
> and it's less special and simpler to learn for beginners. 

It's an interesting concept, but most of the time $this *does* behave 
like a variable - it's not just a way of accessing scope like "self".  
You can write "foo($this)", "$bar = $this", even "echo $this" (if 
__toString is defined). So any syntax that made it look unlike a 
variable would have the opposite learning problem - how come I can use 
it like a variable, but it looks like something else?

There's also rather a shortage of syntax that doesn't already mean 
something...

Regards,

-- 
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]