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Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2016 16:32:40 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Cascade Operator (was Re: [PHP-DEV] Proposal for php7
 class method return)
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

On 12/07/2016 14:54, Michael Morris wrote:
> Agreed, but what about static methods?  Triple colon perhaps?
>
> A::setFoo(1)
>   :::setBar(2)
>   :::setBaz(3);

This is a rather different feature, because you can't really express 
that as an expression returning something. What is $result set to if I 
run "$result = A:::setFoo(1)"? Or, equivalently, what is the value of 
the chain you've written? (Presumably, the "::" on the first line should 
be a ":::", otherwise I'm even less sure how to read it...)

I think saying "if you want the cascade operator, you have to use an 
instance, not static methods" is reasonable enough. Especially with the 
perennial discussion about namespaced functions being better than 
classes with lots of static methods (if only we had function 
autoloading, etc, etc).


Somebody quoted a concise explanation of the cascade operator earlier, 
which bears repeating, in PHP context:

// Proposed
$result = $foo->>bar();

// Valid in PHP 7
$result = ( function($subject){ $subject->bar(); return $subject; } )( 
$foo );

// Long-hand
$foo->bar(); // discard return result
$result = $foo;


There's no magic needed to create longer chains, or combine this with 
other operators; it's not a transform done to the source code, just a 
normal expression.

Regards,
-- 
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]