Re: Should PHP reserve a namespace for built-in classes?

On Wed, 2024-07-24 at 22:02 +0200, Tim Düsterhus wrote: > > > I think a better solution would be to have one namespace for all > > bundled classes, so that a specific namespace is reserved in > > advance. > > Needing to prefix everything by \PHP or something like this would > provide for a terrible developer experience when using the standard > library. We're already there. If I want to have a Directory class, I need to put it in a namespace. But then, if I'm using namespaces, I need to put a \ in front of every built-in class *and* function or else take a performance hit. So we're already where we need to do \isset, \array_key_exists, etc to get the built-in functions without doing a local namespace lookup first. I think there are several things to consider here: 1. Could we have a global setting (maybe php.ini) that makes all built- in functions (not built in classes) directly accessible in any namespace? That is: // php.ini AlwaysUseGlobalFunctions = yes Then: // myclass.php namespace foo; class Bar{ function MyMethod($a,$b){ if(array_key_exists($a,$b)){ // no \ before array_key_exists // do something } } } And with that option set, PHP will know that array_key_exists *is* \array_key_exists, even without the slash, and without checking the foo namespace for an array_key_exists function first? My understanding is that some built-in functions have their own opcode, that doesn't get triggered when those built-in functions are called in a namespace, unless the built-in is called with a \. Having all *functions* default to global would make namespaces a lot more user friendly to work with, since we wouldn't have to put backslashes in front of everything. 2. I think built-in classes are nice, but having classes pre-registered in the global namespace can cause a lot of frustration. ie. "GlobIterator::__construct() expects at most 2 arguments, 3 given". Except, my GlobIterator takes exactly three arguments, so why does.... Oh. I see, there's already a GlobIterator registered. I think the sane approach is to have the (user land) developers pull built-in classes into the global namespace when needed with use. If I want the built-in GlobIterator, I should specify that with: use \spl\GlobIterator; Then I know there's a GlobIterator class because I just called for it.