RE: [PHP-DEV] instanceof survives non-object variables, but crashes on non-object constants.

> -----Original Message----> From: Niklas Keller [mailto:me@kelunik.com] > Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 1:05 PM > To: Sara Golemon <pollita@php.net> > Cc: Andreas Hennings <andreas@dqxtech.net>; PHP internals > <internals@lists.php.net> > Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] instanceof survives non-object variables, but crashes on > non-object constants. > > > > > This. There's nothing undefinable about "1 instanceof \stdClass", the > > clear and obvious answer is: "No, it's not an instance of \stdClass, > > it's an integer." The runtime result of false makes sense, the > > compile time error doesn't. Let's relax the compile time error (fold > > it into a const false if you truly must) and call it done. There's no > > need to be hostile to users just because the code *seems* silly. > > > > This code doesn't just *seem* silly. For everything but testing whether it works > it is totally useless. Do you mean the static use case specifically or in general? Because the runtime use case can definitely be useful, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. I think it boils down to whether we want to: (a) Keep things as-is. (b) Block the runtime use case and error out in case of non-objects. (c) Change the compile-time evaluation to allow non-objects and return false. I definitely don't think we should do (b), as I completely agree with Sara the answer to whether $x instanceof \stdClass when $x=1 is well defined, and is a clear 'no' with no need to error out. It's also a perfectly reasonable behavior to rely on. My vote goes to (c), because while (a) would prevent an admittedly silly piece of code (a hardcoded check on whether an obviously non-object is an object) from running, I think consistency is preferable, and I don't see how erroring out during compile time in this particular case buys us anything. Zeev