I might be missing something here, but I thought the people
discussing things on this list are members of the user base. Thus,
they likely propose syntax changes and improvements because they need
them.
I have to say that I don't really get that argument some people bring
forward over and over again: "adding new features makes PHP more
difficult for beginners". Oh. Late static binding makes code
difficult to understand. Namespaces make code difficult to
understand. That's nonsense really. Take your average PHP beginner,
show him some code where iterators or __get/__set/__call are used and
ask him what's going on. You'd get the same answer.
The web is one of the most quickly changing areas in computer
technology. PHP, being primarily a language for web sites and
applications, has to change constantly in order to be able to remain
competitive. And it still has a long way to go. Unicode and
Namespaces/Packages support are absolutely essential in large
environments where interoperability is essential. Until that happens,
PHP won't be the language of choice for a good number of large (and
small) enterprises when it comes to implementing certain
applications. You can't solve this problem only by producing
frameworks or announcing one-click installers with Oracle support.
It's the language itself that also has to change so it can rise to
new challenges.
And last but not least, the pursuit of innovation, percection,
advancement is what defines mankind. You shouldn't really try to stop
that. It must be in the very interest of any language, even PHP, to
get better over time.
- David
Am 09.03.2006 um 11:57 schrieb Zeev Suraski:
I'd like to raise a motion to 'Give the Language a Rest'.
Almost a decade since we started with the 2nd iteration on the
syntax (PHP 3), and 2 more major versions since then, and we're
still heatedly debating on adding new syntactical, core level
features.
Is it really necessary? I'd say in almost all cases the answer's
no, and a bunch of cases where a new feature could be useful does
not constitute a good enough reason to add a syntax level feature.
We might have to account for new technologies, or maybe new ways of
thinking that might arise, but needless to say, most of the stuff
we've been dealing with in recent times doesn't exactly fall in the
category of cutting edge technology.
My motion is to make it much, much more difficult to add new syntax-
level features into PHP. Consider only features which have
significant traction to a large chunk of our userbase, and not
something that could be useful in some extremely specialized edge
cases, usually of PHP being used for non web stuff.
How do we do it? Unfortunately, I can't come up with a real
mechanism to 'enforce' a due process and reasoning for new features.
Instead, please take at least an hour to bounce this idea in the
back of your mind, preferably more. Make sure you think about the
full context, the huge audience out there, the consequences of
making the learning curve steeper with every new feature, and the
scope of the goodness that those new features bring. Consider how
far we all come and how successful the PHP language is today, in
implementing all sorts of applications most of us would have never
even thought of when we created the language.
Once you're done thinking, decide for yourself. Does it make sense
to be discussing new language level features every other week? Or
should we, perhaps, invest more in other fronts, which would be
beneficial for a far bigger audience. The levels above -
extensions to keep with the latest technologies, foundation
classes, etc. Pretty much, the same direction other mature
languages went to.
To be clear, and to give this motion higher chances of success, I'm
not talking about jump. PHP can live with jump, almost as well as
it could live without it :) I'm talking about the general sentiment.
Zeev
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