The question that pops to my mind by reading this thread is "what's wrong with
the following code":
function add(int $a, int $b)
{
return $a + $b;
}
add($_REQUEST['a'], $_REQUEST['b']); // Assume $_REQUEST['a'] == '1' and
$_REQUEST['b'] == '2'.
And the truth is that if I was forced to explicitly cast I would be annoyed. I
can't say I see that
cast as promoting better code or more readable code - It would just clutter the
code and be
annoying. PHP does a lot of type juggling for me, why annoy me all of a sudden?
As for the argument of "it's optional" the problem with it is that most code
that the average PHP
developer writes is constrained PHP that other PHP developers have already
written, either library
or code base. The feature may be optional for the developer writing the
function or method, but it
is enforced on the developer who's using it. This is exactly where the
"direction of the platform"
arguments come into play.
So I'm thinking, "No".
But then I was thought about it further and thought about this scenario:
$a = some_functions(); // Let's say it returned NULL.
$b = $_REQUEST['b']; // Let's say this is ''.
add($a, $b);
Very bad. Hell I'd like to have some easy way of telling off the developer who
tries to do that to
my function. Enter type hints.
Here are a few more examples:
concatenate(string $str1, string $str2)
{
return $str1 . $str2;
}
concatenate('x', 1); // Great, what's the big deal ?
concatenate(NULL, false); // Hmm...
concatenate($obj1, $obj2); // $obj1 and $obj2 have __toString().
So the bottom line is that it seems to me that what would be really useful is
not strict type
hinting, but more like "Juggling hinting". i.e differentiate between an "OK"
type juggle and a "bad"
type juggle. Silently perform the first, while emit a small notice or warning
for the later.
Just my... erm, 2$... :-)
A
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