Bug #51225 [Com]: cannot define a class with the same name as an interface

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51225&edit=1 ID: 51225 Comment by: LaKing at D250 dot hu Reported by: tony at marston-home dot demon dot co dot uk Summary: cannot define a class with the same name as an interface Status: Assigned Type: Bug Package: Class/Object related Operating System: Windows XP PHP Version: 5.2.13 Assigned To: johannes Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: The language-developers have two options. Either a clearer error message as a quick-fix, or allowing interfaces and classes with the same name, with the necessary underlying updates properly implemented in the language. That would be the elegant, and logical way. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-09-23 08:03:40] i at walkinraven dot name I think you the fact of class and interface sharing a same namespace should be clearly written into the manual! And the better way, the two should not share a same namespace at all. It waste me some much time to check my project. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-08-05 23:38:58] bobalicious dot bob at gmail dot com In my opinion, in order to be valid the code snippet should read: if (!class_exists('foobar') && !interface_exists('foobar') ) { class foobar{} } The error message on attempting to declare a class with the same name as an interface should respond: Cannot declare class as an interface exists with that name The reverse message should also be possible. It does not make sense to allow an interface and a class to have the same name (type hinting is a great example why not), and 'class_exists' should only refer to classes (the clue's in the name). The confusion is merely down to an inaccurate error message. Note: There's a reason it's not uncommon for people to prefix interfaces with an 'i' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-03-08 10:35:06] tony at marston-home dot demon dot co dot uk I disagree. class_exists() SHOULD check if that name has already been declared as an interface otherwise you get the following situation: if (!class_exists('foobar') { // returns false class foobar{} // fails because interface exists } On the one hand it is saying "a class with the name 'foobar' does not exist" which is immediately followed by "you cannot create a class with the name 'foobar' as it already exists". That is not logical to me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-03-08 00:55:52] johannes@php.net I think the error message ("Cannot redeclare class") should be clearer about classes and interfaces sharing the same namespace, which is needed as type hints would be conflicting otherwise, but class_exists (by default) should only check classes in my opinion. Any change should consider that there's also interface_exists() and they should be consistent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-03-08 00:28:39] derick@php.net Yes, I agree. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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=51225 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51225&edit=1