# Add get_object_constants and get_class_constants - Thread: https://externals.io/message/66245 - Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/66245 - Started by Mike Willbanks on 2013-02-26T15:19:40+00:00 - Messages: 16 - Reply by email to internals@lists.php.net - More for agents: search with https://externals.io/search.md?q={query} · JSON API at https://externals.io/api · documentation at https://externals.io/llms.txt --- ## #66245 — Mike Willbanks — 2013-02-26T15:19:40+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66245 Hello All, Before drafting an RFC I would like to gauge interest in adding: get_object_constants and get_class_constants Currently this can only be done through ReflectionClass which is far slower than retrieving them directly from the constants table. Some simple timings show that through reflection retrieving these values is 2-3 times slower than providing a quick access function for retrieval. This also fits nicely amongst the current stack of: get_object_vars, get_class_vars and get_class_methods These functions are commonly asked about on areas such as StackOverflow ( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/956401/can-i-get-consts-defined-on-a-php-class) amongst other places on the net. I have already drafted up a PR with the changes and supplemental data: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/292 Regards, Mike --- ## #66246 — Nikita Popov — 2013-02-26T15:25:03+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66246 · In reply to: #66245 > Hello All, > > Before drafting an RFC I would like to gauge interest in adding: > get_object_constants and get_class_constants > > Currently this can only be done through ReflectionClass which is far slower > than retrieving them directly from the constants table. Some simple > timings show that through reflection retrieving these values is 2-3 times > slower than providing a quick access function for retrieval. > > This also fits nicely amongst the current stack of: > get_object_vars, get_class_vars and get_class_methods > > These functions are commonly asked about on areas such as StackOverflow ( > > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/956401/can-i-get-consts-defined-on-a-php-class > ) > amongst other places on the net. > > I have already drafted up a PR with the changes and supplemental data: > https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/292 > > Regards, > > Mike > I don't quite see why we need this. The only argument seems to be performance and I'm not quite sure why performance would be relevant here. At least I can't imagine in what kind of code fetching the class constants is a bottleneck. Nikita --- ## #66247 — Sara Golemon — 2013-02-26T15:39:23+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66247 · In reply to: #66246 > > […] You took the time to make a PR, but not an RFC? This should really be the other way around (if at all). > > […] > I don't quite see why we need this. The only argument seems to be > performance and I'm not quite sure why performance would be relevant here. > At least I can't imagine in what kind of code fetching the class constants > is a bottleneck. > I'm meh on the perf issue. Yeah it's probably there, but it's buried in the noise and I'm not so sure about use-cases. Not against it for its own sake though. > > […] > Yay! Consistency! Boo! Poorly named get_*() methods should have been called something else from the get-go, but it's too late for that. Honestly, this is the bit that bugs me most. > > […] > I... kinda don't care about this part of the argument. It's called "Google", and if they can't find it in Reflection, they won't find it here. -Sara --- ## #66248 — Mike Willbanks — 2013-02-26T16:28:38+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66248 · In reply to: #66247 > > […] > You took the time to make a PR, but not an RFC? This should really be > the other way around (if at all). > Yeah, part of it is that I want to learn the internals so if I have to throw it away; I don't care too much about it. Would be different if I knew the internals far better than I do then I would likely start on that path. But I wanted to be able to see what the performance differences were, how to achieve it as I don't want to be one of those... yeah PHP should do this but I can't do the work... so I figure I'd start by writing it and finding help along the way until I can figure it out. :) > > > > […] > slower > > […] > times > > […] > here. > > […] > constants > > […] > I'm meh on the perf issue. Yeah it's probably there, but it's buried > in the noise and I'm not so sure about use-cases. Not against it for > its own sake though. > Many open source projects frown on the usage of Reflection and ReflectionClass inside of the code base; this is part of the reason. Sure I could certainly use ReflectionClass and leverage that instead. The perception is that Reflection* is slow and as such by most maintainers it is advised to stay away from it unless you're caching the results. As stated the performance is not necessarily a _huge_ case here; however, the more places that this becomes incorporated in a code base the slower things get overall. Here is a simple use case of usage where MyClass2 can add in new constants without having issue: MyClass { const SUCCESS = 1; const FAILURE = -1; const FAILURE_UNCATEGORIZED = -2; public function __construct($code) { $code = (int) $code; if (!in_array($code, get_object_constants($this))) { $code = self::FAILURE; } } } MyClass2 extends MyClass { const FAILURE_MYTYPE = -3; } > > > […] > Yay! Consistency! Boo! Poorly named get_*() methods should have been > called something else from the get-go, but it's too late for that. > Honestly, this is the bit that bugs me most. > Yeah; I just attempt to follow whatever is consistent in whichever area it is. I guess I am also curious here (not to divert from the thread) but if we do not want to add in more of these; why don't we deprecate the usage of the current get_class_vars, get_object_vars, get_class_methods, etc and attempt to have everyone move over to the Reflection use case? Obviously this would have to be in a major version but if as a language PHP is moving things to the reflection use cases then provide it only there? Seriously not attempting to open up a can of worms here; there has already been several threads on BC and deprecation in the last month or so overall on the ML. > > > […] > ( > > […] > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/956401/can-i-get-consts-defined-on-a-php-class > > […] > I... kinda don't care about this part of the argument. It's called > "Google", and if they can't find it in Reflection, they won't find it > here. > That is semi true; I believe most people would locate get_object_vars/get_class_vars and then are confused when they cannot get the constants. Still it is easy to locate the reflection so this argument is easily dropped. - Mike --- ## #66261 — Stas Malyshev — 2013-02-27T07:39:12+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66261 · In reply to: #66245 Hi! > Before drafting an RFC I would like to gauge interest in adding: > get_object_constants and get_class_constants > > Currently this can only be done through ReflectionClass which is far slower > than retrieving them directly from the constants table. Some simple > timings show that through reflection retrieving these values is 2-3 times > slower than providing a quick access function for retrieval. What kind of application depends on performance on retrieval of class constant table? I.e. what is the use case that would be served by this change? -- Stanislav Malyshev, Software Architect SugarCRM: http://www.sugarcrm.com/ (408)454-6900 ext. 227 --- ## #66270 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T14:54:19+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66270 · In reply to: #66261 Hello Mike, thank you! It is a useful feature to me. My usecase are checks on defined constants: e.g. on my Bitmasks i want to check if given position-value is valid for current bitmask: http://3v4l.org/CR2qJ e.g. in my Exception Handler i check Exception-Codes: if not defined in Exception class, the underlying api may have changed ... > array *get_defined_constants* ([ bool |$categorize|= false ] ) As there is no equivalent function for classes, i like it simply for the sake of completeness too :) To get rid of performance penalty, i mostly hardcode static arrays with all the constants (high maintenance costs!). cryptocompress --- ## #66272 — Frank Schenk — 2013-02-27T15:12:56+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66272 · In reply to: #66270 Hi Crypto Compress, big congratz to that name, your mummy Hash Compress and your daddy Image Compress must be very proud! SCNR Am 02/27/2013 03:54 PM, schrieb Crypto Compress: > Hello Mike, > > thank you! It is a useful feature to me. > > class MyBitmask { > const POS_1 = 1; > // const POS_2 = 2; // reserved/undefined > // const POS_3 = 3; // reserved/undefined > const POS_4 = 4; I'm developing software with PHP since version 2 and i'm still easily impressed by such code. So we need get_object_constants and get_class_constants for such fancy stuff? Where's the good old $flag == true; or FLAG == true;? A bitmask class to shuffle around with class constants using reflection of itself and a magic method get_class_constants to check a boolean flag? I just don't get it but maybe i'm to focused to doing things the most simple and readable/maintainable way. Maybe, in a few years, c++ will be a beginners language compared to PHP which gets added new shiny features every day which will only be used by even more shiny frameworks and the most shiniest, bloated objects one can imagine. With every fancy feature added to PHP you kill a kitten! I'm more with this "Give PHP and it's core developers a rest" so that the core can be improved/cleaned up instead of adding Java features people have seen on the university and like them but now they're forced to use PHP which is like the opposite of Java. Java has it's good reasons too. Just a tool. Use the tool that fits best, don't use the hammer as a saw by adding teeth to it. Cheers, Frank -- Frank Schenk Software Analyst 2e Systems Tel: +49 - 6196 - 95058 - 30 Fax: +49 - 6196 - 95058 - 94 E-mail: frank.schenk@2e-systems.com Address: 2e Systems GmbH, Königsteiner Str. 87, D-65812 Bad Soden am Taunus Company registration: Amtsgericht Königstein (Germany), HRB 7303 Director: Philip Douglas http://www.2e-systems.com/ - making your business fly! --- ## #66274 — Sebastian Krebs — 2013-02-27T15:19:51+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66274 · In reply to: #66272 2013/2/27 Frank Schenk > Hi Crypto Compress, > > big congratz to that name, your mummy Hash Compress and your daddy Image > Compress must be very proud! > > SCNR > > Am 02/27/2013 03:54 PM, schrieb Crypto Compress: > > […] > > I'm developing software with PHP since version 2 and i'm still easily > impressed by such code. So we need get_object_constants and > get_class_constants for such fancy stuff? > > Where's the good old > $flag == true; or FLAG == true;? > > A bitmask class to shuffle around with class constants using reflection > of itself and a magic method get_class_constants to check a boolean flag? > > I just don't get it but maybe i'm to focused to doing things the most > simple and readable/maintainable way. > > Maybe, in a few years, c++ will be a beginners language compared to PHP > which gets added new shiny features every day which will only be used by > even more shiny frameworks and the most shiniest, bloated objects one > can imagine. > I don't see this one in a framework. Just said :) > > With every fancy feature added to PHP you kill a kitten! > > I'm more with this "Give PHP and it's core developers a rest" so that > the core can be improved/cleaned up instead of adding Java features > people have seen on the university and like them but now they're forced > to use PHP which is like the opposite of Java. Java has it's good > reasons too. Just a tool. Use the tool that fits best, don't use the > hammer as a saw by adding teeth to it. > > Cheers, > Frank > > -- > > Frank Schenk > Software Analyst > 2e Systems > > Tel: +49 - 6196 - 95058 - 30 > Fax: +49 - 6196 - 95058 - 94 > E-mail: frank.schenk@2e-systems.com > > Address: 2e Systems GmbH, Königsteiner Str. 87, D-65812 Bad Soden am Taunus > Company registration: Amtsgericht Königstein (Germany), HRB 7303 > Director: Philip Douglas > > http://www.2e-systems.com/ - making your business fly! > > -- > > > > -- github.com/KingCrunch --- ## #66276 — Mike Willbanks — 2013-02-27T15:58:30+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66276 · In reply to: #66272 > > > […] > > I'm developing software with PHP since version 2 and i'm still easily > impressed by such code. So we need get_object_constants and > get_class_constants for such fancy stuff? > > Where's the good old > $flag == true; or FLAG == true;? > > A bitmask class to shuffle around with class constants using reflection > of itself and a magic method get_class_constants to check a boolean flag? > > I just don't get it but maybe i'm to focused to doing things the most > simple and readable/maintainable way. > The simple case of things like this is to be able to read extended classes; say you are enforcing some type of bitmask checking; well extended classes may not have the same signature. Bitmasks are nothing new; PHP uses several of them internally and several of them inside of various functions (generally a bitmask would look more like: 00000 = 0 00001 = 1 00010 = 2 00100 = 4 01000 = 8 10000 = 16 > > Maybe, in a few years, c++ will be a beginners language compared to PHP > which gets added new shiny features every day which will only be used by > even more shiny frameworks and the most shiniest, bloated objects one > can imagine. > > With every fancy feature added to PHP you kill a kitten! > This is not necessarily a new feature; it's simply rounding out some of the already existing functions. We're not talking about new "framework" features; we are talking about ways to get things done quicker (although the fractions of microseconds don't made a huge difference). If you think this is a new fancy feature; you likely think that this is the shiniest: $class = new Reflection('MyClass'); $constants = $class->getConstants(); I'm more with this "Give PHP and it's core developers a rest" so that > the core can be improved/cleaned up instead of adding Java features > people have seen on the university and like them but now they're forced > to use PHP which is like the opposite of Java. Java has it's good > reasons too. Just a tool. Use the tool that fits best, don't use the > hammer as a saw by adding teeth to it. > Funny enough; this is more PHP like than Java; the Reflection class is more java oriented and already exists and is not touched in this. We're talking about global functions. Sure give PHP a rest; but you know... I was raising this simply for consistency; speed. I am not asking anyone else to work on this; hell part of the reason I submitted the PR before even writing an RFC. I am simply suggesting an alternative to using Reflection whereas: get_class_constants([object|string]); get_object_constants([object]); Do we need both; probably not; the first would likely do. --- ## #66280 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T17:09:01+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66280 · In reply to: #66276 Am 27.02.2013 16:58, schrieb Mike Willbanks: > I am simply suggesting an alternative to using Reflection whereas: > > get_class_constants([object|string]); > get_object_constants([object]); > > Do we need both; probably not; the first would likely do. +1 for the first one only Am 27.02.2013 16:12, Analyst (Frank Schenk) trolled: > bitmask class to shuffle around with class constants shuffle bits around with clearly named constants: http://php.net/manual/en/language.operators.bitwise.php https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/master/src/Symfony/Component/Security/Acl/Permission/MaskBuilder.php cryptocompress --- ## #66281 — Mike Willbanks — 2013-02-27T17:16:12+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66281 · In reply to: #66280 > I am simply suggesting an alternative to using Reflection whereas: > > […] > > +1 for the first one only > > > Am 27.02.2013 16:12, Analyst (Frank Schenk) trolled: > > bitmask class to shuffle around with class constants > > […] > > shuffle bits around with clearly named constants: > http://php.net/manual/en/**language.operators.bitwise.php > https://github.com/symfony/**symfony/blob/master/src/** > Symfony/Component/Security/**Acl/Permission/MaskBuilder.php This part of the example shows this in practice: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/master/src/Symfony/Component/Security/Acl/Permission/MaskBuilder.php#L192 You can see where it is using the reflection class to grab constants. These are the types of use cases where this becomes useful; now depending on how many times this is done in a code base really depends on how useful the function is over using the reflection class itself. - Mike --- ## #66283 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T17:40:49+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66283 · In reply to: #66281 Am 27.02.2013 18:16, schrieb Mike Willbanks: > how many times this is done a quick search on GitHub for: - "ReflectionClass" (PHP/Code): 240,922 - "getConstants" (PHP/Code): 22,208 This search is not accurate nor representative but there are some more usecases in this results. cryptocompress https://github.com/search?l=php&q=ReflectionClass&ref=searchresults&type=Code https://github.com/search?l=php&q=getConstants&ref=searchresults&type=Code --- ## #66284 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T18:12:40+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66284 · In reply to: #66283 "Get rid of ~10% of all reflection usecases with only one function." This is really an exorbitant shiny argument on its own. Simple too good to be true. What am i missing? :) --- ## #66286 — Nikita Popov — 2013-02-27T18:19:33+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66286 · In reply to: #66284 On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 7:12 PM, Crypto Compress < cryptocompress@googlemail.com> wrote: > "Get rid of ~10% of all reflection usecases with only one function." > > This is really an exorbitant shiny argument on its own. Simple too good to > be true. What am i missing? :) > You're missing: Why the heck do we want to get rid of Reflection? It's not like Reflection was added just for fun. It was added to be actually used. There is no need to replace (new ReflectionClass($class))->getConstants() with get_class_constants($class). Do we want to alias *all* Reflection methods in this way? Imho this is just absurd. Nikita --- ## #66287 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T18:33:27+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66287 · In reply to: #66286 sorry, i pollute this thread with discussion about reflection... Am 27.02.2013 19:19, schrieb Nikita Popov: > Why the heck do we want to get rid of Reflection? > Do we want to alias *all* Reflection methods in this way? definitely not, but: I can access all properties of an object without reflection e.g. with foreach. Why i need reflection (ability to examine at runtime!) to do same for constants (they will not change at runtime)? cryptocompress http://3v4l.org/94bru --- ## #66289 — Crypto Compress — 2013-02-27T19:04:41+00:00 URL: https://externals.io/message/66245#66289 · In reply to: #66287 In fact calls to this function are perfectly cacheable by op-caches and can be optimized near zero. This would be a *great performance gain* for this 10% Reflection usecases. cryptocompress