On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 8:51 AM Roman Pronskiy <roman.pronskiy@thephp.foundation> wrote:
> > Do you consider the path of not adding generics to the core at all? In > fact, this path is implicitly taken during the last years. So maybe it > makes sense to enforce that status quo? > > Potential steps: > - Make the current status quo official by recognizing generics PHPDoc > syntax as The Generics for PHP. Just adding a php.net manual page will > do. > - Recognize Composer as the official PHP tool. It's currently not > mentioned on php.net at all. > - Suggest using PHPStan or Psalm for generics and type checks. > - Add an official specification for generics in the PHP manual to > eliminate semantic variances between tools. > > This will keep the core simple and reduce the maintenance burden, not > increase it. > > Moreover, it does not contradict with any other implementation > mentioned in the article, should they happen. In fact, it could be a > first baby-step for any of them. > > There is also an attempt to do generics via attributes – > https://github.com/php-static-analysis/attributes – it could > potentially be a better alternative of recognising “official” syntax, > because unlike PHPDocs, attributes can be available in core and the > syntax is checked. > > What do you folks think? > > -Roman > Seems like a great plan, to be honest. I find it rather odd that Generics is the most requested PHP feature because it seems like we have survived without it for so long and I don't subscribe to the concept that this would be the best thing for PHP since electricity. Having an official "syntax" (Attributes, Docblock) could increase adoption. On the other hand, I feel like a likely outcome is that folks will still consider it as "something that doesn't exist yet" and will keep requesting it. Something else that is worth mentioning, I like that Collection is being discussed as a small step as well. It's a very common use of Generics and would be a great addition to the language if something solid comes out of it. -- Marco Deleu
