Re: [RFC] Explicit call-site send-by-ref syntax

On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 8:49 PM Nikita Popov <nikita.ppv@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi internals, > > I'd like propose optional support for explicitly marking by-reference > argument passing at the call-site, in addition to the declaration-site: > > https://wiki.php.net/rfc/explicit_send_by_ref > > In short, while currently we have > > function byRef(&$ref) {...} > byRef($var); > > this proposal would also allow > > function byRef(&$ref) {...} > byRef(&$var); > > so that the use of by-reference passing is obvious without having to > consult the function declaration. > > Regards, > Nikita > I've rebased and finished the implementation for this and would like to move forward with this RFC. I think it can either go forward as-is, in that it constitutes the first step towards bringing sanity to by-reference passing in the long term. Or I could first try to push through https://wiki.php.net/rfc/namespace_scoped_declares or some variant thereof so that call-site reference passing annotations can be made required on a per-library/project basis. As most of the feedback here has been on whether this is really worthwhile if it's only optional, I guess the second option would be preferred? Nikita