Draft RFC callable types + callable type/function autoloading

Hi Dan Ackroyd,

Function + callable type autoloading
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/2_autoloading_part_2.md

I'd be happy to see function autoloading support in php overall.
It'd help in avoiding loading unnecessary polyfills, or in large codebases with many global functions that are only occasionally used.

Autoloading functions involves a lot of tradeoffs due to design choices in PHP.
I've seen a lot of different opinions - It might be worth setting up a straw poll for whether people would be interested in the change, unless you expect the php 8 implementation to be easy.
(though straw polls have much lower response rates than RFCs)

• Functions can be added to a namespace after they get added to the global scope.
• A lot of namespaced php code refers to functions ambiguously
  (namespace Foo; echo strlen($x); can either refer to strlen() or Foo\strlen).
  What were your plans for handling ambiguous calls?
  I was in favor of checking if either existed (current behavior) before autoloading Foo\strlen, then before autoloading strlen, to keep performance acceptable.
  Others preferred various alternate approaches to autoloading.
  I don't think there was ever a straw poll to measure how common other opinions were,
  or if people would accept a given approach despite having a preference for something else.

The alternatives I can imagine/remember from previous RFC discussions, none of which I hold (https://wiki.php.net/rfc/use_global_elements#deprecate_the_fallback_to_the_root_namespace_instead and below had somewhat related discussion as an attempt to reduce ambiguity):

• The exact way to deal with ambiguity when autoloading, e.g. "autoload Foo\strlen() every single time strlen() is called" (I object because that would harm performance significantly)
• You should make calling static methods easier (doesn't help with a lot of internal functionality like strlen() or polyfills for PECL functions are global functions)

Other thoughts:

• Maybe it would be useful/practical to initially just support autoloading functions when they're passed to function_exists($name, autoload: true) or autoload_function($name).
  I don't remember if that approach was suggested before.
  Then again, I'd personally want something more powerful than that due to the inconvenience, and I imagine most people would.

Thanks,

• Tyson

Hi internals,

A while ago, I spent some time thinking about callables, and how they
are not very consistent, which makes people sad:
https://wiki.php.net/rfc/consistent_callables

The reason I didn't pursue that RFC is that although tidying up PHP
core to be more consistent would be nice, it would be a large amount
of work, that wouldn't dramatically improve the developer experience
when programming in PHP. In fact it would mostly just break otherwise
working code.

What would be better would be an RFC to make callables be more useful,
specifically by allowing you to define the parameter and return types
for them. Making it possible to autoload those types would be
required, and function autoloading is also a feature that has been
desired for a while.

So here are two draft RFCs:

Callable types
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/1_callable_type_rfc.md

Function + callable type autoloading
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/2_autoloading_part_2.md

I'll leave them on github for the moment, as it is easier to do PRs
and track issues there but I wanted to gather initial feedback before
getting closer to the RFC cutoff date.

I'll move them to the wiki and formally submit them for discussion
when the implementation is closer to being done.

cheers
Dan
Ack

--

Hi Dan,

From a userland perspective I like both of these, a lot.

I have a question though, and i wasn’t sure if you’d rather discuss particular points here on in a GH issue.

Would the changes to spl_autoload_* impact on the built in autoload implementation, spl_autoload?

Cheers

Stephen

Hi internals,

A while ago, I spent some time thinking about callables, and how they
are not very consistent, which makes people sad:
https://wiki.php.net/rfc/consistent_callables

The reason I didn't pursue that RFC is that although tidying up PHP
core to be more consistent would be nice, it would be a large amount
of work, that wouldn't dramatically improve the developer experience
when programming in PHP. In fact it would mostly just break otherwise
working code.

What would be better would be an RFC to make callables be more useful,
specifically by allowing you to define the parameter and return types
for them. Making it possible to autoload those types would be
required, and function autoloading is also a feature that has been
desired for a while.

So here are two draft RFCs:

Callable types
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/1_callable_type_rfc.md

Function + callable type autoloading
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/2_autoloading_part_2.md

I'll leave them on github for the moment, as it is easier to do PRs
and track issues there but I wanted to gather initial feedback before
getting closer to the RFC cutoff date.

I'll move them to the wiki and formally submit them for discussion
when the implementation is closer to being done.

Hi!

Just a Little question. I see this other document in the same repo:
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/3_referencing_functions_and_callables.md

Are you planning to also raise it?
As userland developer it really bothers me to type function and method names in strings.

Thanks in advance!

Un saludo,
Iván Arias.

De: Dan Ackroydmailto:Danack@basereality.com
Enviado: miércoles, 20 de mayo de 2020 15:01
Para: PHP internalsmailto:internals@lists.php.net
Asunto: [PHP-DEV] Draft RFC callable types + callable type/function autoloading

Hi internals,

A while ago, I spent some time thinking about callables, and how they
are not very consistent, which makes people sad:
https://wiki.php.net/rfc/consistent_callables

The reason I didn't pursue that RFC is that although tidying up PHP
core to be more consistent would be nice, it would be a large amount
of work, that wouldn't dramatically improve the developer experience
when programming in PHP. In fact it would mostly just break otherwise
working code.

What would be better would be an RFC to make callables be more useful,
specifically by allowing you to define the parameter and return types
for them. Making it possible to autoload those types would be
required, and function autoloading is also a feature that has been
desired for a while.

So here are two draft RFCs:

Callable types
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/1_callable_type_rfc.md

Function + callable type autoloading
https://github.com/Danack/FunctionTypes/blob/master/2_autoloading_part_2.md

I'll leave them on github for the moment, as it is easier to do PRs
and track issues there but I wanted to gather initial feedback before
getting closer to the RFC cutoff date.

I'll move them to the wiki and formally submit them for discussion
when the implementation is closer to being done.

cheers
Dan
Ack