On 23 ביול 2012, at 19:05, Anthony Ferrara wrote:
> Andrew,
>
> On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Andrew Faulds <a...@ajf.me> wrote:
>
>>
>> (resending because of broken formatting)
>>
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I apologise for my previous email. It was a disorganised mess that didn't
>> really
>> make the case for that function very well. So here's a proper proposal
>> (perhaps
>> too proper?).
>>
>> Introduction ------------
>>
>> I am proposing a function, named array_pick(), which takes a single (array)
>> argument, and returns a random value from it.
>>
>> Implementation --------------
>>
>> https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/142
>>
>> Specification -------------
>>
>> mixed array_pick(array $array);
>> The function returns the value of one random array element from $array.
>> Should
>> said array be empty, then it should return NULL.
>>
>> Rationale ---------
>>
>> - array_rand exists, however it only gets a random key, not a random
>> value. This
>> is the logical counterpart for API completeness
>> - array_pick is more convenient than $a[array_rand($a)], especially for
>> these
>> cases:
>> - short array syntax + array_pick, e.g. some_func(array_pick(['foo.png',
>> 'bar.jpg', 'foobar.gif'])) vs $a = ['foo.png, 'bar.jpg', 'foobar.gif'];
>> some_func($a[array_rand($a)]);
>> - where using long names or nested arrays, e.g.
>> some_func(array_pick($foo['bar']['foobar']));
>> - array_pick is less wasteful than shuffling an array and taking the first
>> element
>> - $a[array_rand($a)] issuse a NOTICE from an undefined index if the array
>> is
>> empty, but array_pick() just returns null, which is more convenient
>> - I need this function myself quite often. It exists in two other
>> languages I
>> use that I can think of off the top of my head (Python, Game Maker
>> Language)
>>
>> Objections ----------
>> - PHP has too many functions
>> - Yes, but that doesn't mean we can't add more. Otherwise we can't
>> improve
>> things and move forward.
>>
>
> Broken Window Theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory
>
> Saying things are already broken is never a valid justification for
> breaking things further.
>
>
>> - This can be easily implemented in userland code/this is too frivolous to
>> warrant addition
>> - This is true, however similarly to a lot of standard library
>> functionality,
>> it is used frequently enough that it is silly to have to rewrite it every
>> time
>> it is needed
>>
>
> It's a one-liner. It's not like it's non-trivial, or there are weird
> edge-cases, or security implications. It's a one line implementation:
>
> function array_pick(array $array) {
> return empty($array) ? null : $array[array_rand($array)];
> }
>
>
>> - It is also the logical counterpart to array_rand(). One for a key, one
>> for a
>> value.
>>
>
> Again, since it's so trivial to implement, why is it needed? Symmetry is a
> decent goal, but justified symmetry. Not just symmetry for the sake of it...
>
>
>> - The name isn't logical
>> - Whilst you could argue that array_rand_key is a better name, I have
>> chosen
>> array_pick because it is shorter, and has a similar name to similar
>> functions in
>> Python (random.choice) and GML (choose)
>>
>
> Actually, I think that array_pick() is a poor name. Python's name makes
> sense, because it's bound to the random namespace. But being bound to the
> array namespace indicates a different thing. I would argue that
> array_random_value() would be a better choice (or any one of a number of
> names)...
>
>
>> ---
>> Thoughts?
>>
>
> Shared.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Anthony
> It's a one-liner. It's not like it's non-trivial, or there are weird
> edge-cases, or security implications. It's a one line implementation:
>
> function array_pick(array $array) {
> return empty($array) ? null : $array[array_rand($array)];
> }
array_rand() is also trivial and one length long function, but it exists in the
language and it is really useful.
I don't think that one should think about "how much line it takes to write it",
you should think about "does many people use this function quite often in order
to make it part of the language".
Personally, I think that this function is great, and when I read for the first
time about array_rand() I thought it'll returns a value, after I realized it
returns a key, I looked for a value pair and surprised to see that there's no
value pair.
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