Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52318&edit=1
ID: 52318 Updated by: [email protected] Reported by: brendel at krumedia dot de Summary: Weak references for PHP -Status: Open +Status: Closed Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Scripting Engine problem PHP Version: Irrelevant -Assigned To: +Assigned To: nikic Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: This is available as a PECL extension: http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.weakref.php Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-07-11 18:57:59] landeholm at gmail dot com I just ran into this issue again... Please make PHP a modern language and implement this already. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-08-09 10:17:09] brendel at krumedia dot de bastard dot internets at gmail dot com, for framework developers this would be very useful. It just means, when the user of the framework no longer use a certain object the framework also should not longer waste memory. There are no pitfalls for the user. But the framework is more flexible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-08-09 08:57:46] bastard dot internets at gmail dot com brendel at krumedia dot de - Good call: "$user now contains a new user object" When looking at it from a security perspective, I do believe you just killed all my arguments against. Not because you've proven it impossible, but because unless the developer explicitly wants that functionality, their code will have a thousand holes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-08-09 08:21:48] brendel at krumedia dot de Hi bastard dot internets at gmail dot com, see how variable references are no solution: <?php $repository = new SplWeakArrayValues(); $user = $dbTable->getUserById(1); $repository[$user->id] = $user; // Now two variables hold object references to one user object $user = new User(); // $user now contains a new user object and the old one should have // been removed from the repository. This time i do not assign null // but another (transient) user object. // count($repository) should equal 0. ?> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-08-09 08:08:26] bastard dot internets at gmail dot com brendel at krumedia dot de - You got me at "Also count($repository) should equal 0" As I said earlier, "Registry::$Collection[$a->id] = null;" will set all variables referring to this object handle to null globally. However, count(Registry::$Collection) is still 1. I'd still argue this is possible using existing language features. However, it means juggling so many references, forced implementing spaghetti code to get a solution, and a single missing "&" symbol anywhere leading to hours of debugging. And, I just found myself needing just such a solution. So, I'd have to vote for a built-in interface or class like you describe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52318 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52318&edit=1
