Req #66012 [NEW]: "initialize" keyword allowing member caching

From: llmll at gmx dot de Operating system: any PHP version: Irrelevant Package: Variables related Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:"initialize" keyword allowing member caching Description: ------------ PHP should provide a method to initialize (static or instance) members of objects and later present cached data. Motivation is to hide the program logic for first-time fetching of data, which is important for ORM classes. $Property gets a new keyword "initialize" and a block, which is executed if and only if $Property === null. The called blocks returns a value, that is onwards stored in this property. Subsequent calls just return the value. So the return value is cached! The cached value can later be cleared, just by setting $Property = null; This keyword also candidates for static property initializers! Thanks for reading and thinking. Test script: --------------- class Foo { public $BigData; public function InitializeBigData() { // this has to be called somehwere // and tends to get forgotten // or calle to late, after some code // accesses $BigData directly and hits null $this->BigData = somehow::getBigData(); } public function GetBigData() { // smarter method, but must be called every time // when you want to access BigData // but is not a property // too much writing overhead for many properties if ($this->BigData === null) { $this->BigData = somehow::getBigData(); } return $this->BigData; } } Expected result: ---------------- class Foo { public $BigData initialize { // this block gets executed only, if property is null // fetches big data and stores it internally somewhere return somehow::getBigData(); } } $foo = new Foo(); // don't care about BigData being read or cached, its just there. echo $foo->BigData; // reset cached value $foo->BigData = null; // will load BigData again echo $foo->BigData; -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=66012&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=66012&r=mysqlcfg