On Tue, Feb 4, 2020, 14:36 Benjamin Eberlei <kont...@beberlei.de> wrote:
> > > On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 2:10 PM Marco Pivetta <ocram...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Linking (again) previous discussions: >> https://externals.io/message/98539#98539 >> >> `__toArray` as a magic function call when `(array)` cast happen is a bad >> idea: it is a BC break, and it removes one of the very few interactions >> (with objects) that didn't cause any side-effects ( >> https://externals.io/message/98539#98545, >> https://externals.io/message/98539#98567) >> > > I think we can't classify it as BC break, because no existing code > implements __toArray at the moment, and hence it will not fail when this > feature is introduced and code gets upgraded to newer versions. > It is a BC break because it changes the semantic of `(array) $object`: the operation is no longer stable between two versions of the language. Code relying on `(array)` behaviour (stable) requires additional reflection wrappers to check if `$object` is **not** implementing `__toArray`, and then the operation can be safely used (or an exception is to be thrown). You can most certainly make a new operation, such as `(toArray) $object`: the cast operator is new and isn't changing any existing behaviour.
