Mike wrote:
In my opinion I don't think PHP would be where it is today if it wasn't
for being so easy to learn and use.
I attribute this directly to the fact that it didn't use a lot of
"syntax sugar" that is unreadable and can't be "Googled" for. You can't
Google "[]", and my guess is searching PHP.net for "[]" won't return
anything useful either.
Using Array() is SELF EXPLANATORY! Anyone can see that, search Google
for "Array" and learn something about it.
How many man hours are going to be wasted:
1. Searching for what the heck [] actually is.
This "No Magic" mantra is something I have been using since day one to
guide decisions like this in PHP. But I think you guys are
misappropriating it. [] is already our array syntax. $a[1] assumes
that the user realize that [] has something to do with arrays. If they
don't, they are out of luck, because as you say, you can't search for []
and get something useful. But that's already the case and we are simply
building on that existing knowledge. We have to have a minimum set of
operators that we feel reasonable certain that people understand. ?: is
also not easy to search for, yet we added this ternary shortcut.
Likewise, <<< is not easy to look up, but we added HEREDOC and more
recently NOWDOC with this syntax.
PHP is about building on the knowledge and experience of the typical
target user. This target user changes slowly as we all get older and
the industry we are in changes and we need to recognize that and adapt
the language appropriately. What is appropriate is of course a really
hard call which is what this is all about.
-Rasmus
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