Re: short_open_tag

Björn Schotte wrote: > * Stanislav Malyshev wrote: > > Is it so much of a problem to change it? After all, majority of people, as > > I know, don't use PHP to generate XML... > Is that now the general argumentation line? "Majority > of people doesn't want an appserver", "majority of > people doesn't use OO", ... Let's start over, shall we? Hi. Welcome to PHP-dev. With an install base of 3.7 million websites, we spend a great deal of time on php-dev discussing any decision which could likely affect all 3.7 million installed websites, and we are *very* cautious about making any major changes to support a small minority. Yes, it's something like a representative democracy, only *much more* than a simple majority would be required to make any changes that can damage out current install base. I've seen discussions here where only one or two dissenters affected the outcome, which is reasonable, because those one or two dissenters may represent a *million* installed server applications/sites. So yes, one thing you can expect to hear whenever you suggest a change is "No, it will break too many PHP sites." If you wish to develop on a platform with this many users, you will also have to accept that the needs of the *whole* user base are always considered much more important than your own personal needs. Re: XML (I'm one of those who are actually, actively using it, for some $35K in data interchange, per week... really, editing a *single* text file is no big deal, guys, it's much nicer than dealing with 3.7 million broken websites.) Considering that the bulk of manuals, websites, sample scripts, and documentation do not yet *all* show short tags, and that new developers are likely to become easily confused, I think that the multiple php.ini files are a good idea. I think the _default_ will have to remain as is for at _least_ another year or two. As it currently stands, XML is being heavily promoted, but it's not yet had enough market penetration into webserver workflows that we can risk alienating the whole PHP user base for the early adopters. If the proposed XHTML/XML standards _do_ actually become widely used, and the general support issue becomes telling 3.7 million users to turn short tags off (rather than leaving them on), then it would be good time to change the default. But until then, we don't exactly have a reason to possibly break all of the PHP install base, just to make a small group of developers happy. Maybe version 5(?). -Ronabop -- Personal: ron@opus1.com, 520-326-6109, http://www.opus1.com/ron/ Work: rchmara@pnsinc.com, 520-546-8993, http://www.pnsinc.com/ The opinions expressed in this email are not neccesarrily those of myself, my employers, or any of the other little voices in my head.