Re: [RFC] Partial Function Application for instance of non-static methods ("$this")

Hi Tim, On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 4:53 PM Tim Düsterhus <tim@bastelstu.be> wrote: > > Hi > > Arnaud and I would like to start discussion on our RFC “Partial Function > Application for instance of non-static methods ("$this")” which is > intended to round-off the Partial Function Application RFC that was > accepted recently: > > https://wiki.php.net/rfc/partial_function_application_this I really like that feature. The syntax however, including some proposed in this thread, makes little sense to me. It is also challenging as it targets 8.6. I am not sure it is a good idea to rush and make bad compromises with the syntax because of BC or other issues due to the engine current state/behaviors. I would rather wait for the next major and have a proper, self explained syntax. Even if I doubt that "_" as function name will ever be deprecated as well, that would be my favorite. The next would be "it", as new keyword, $formattedDates = array_map(DateTimeImmutable::format(it, "c"), $dates); That could give some time to send some deprecation warning for "it", as an example. Or whatever other symbols may be chosen. Or whatever else would be needed to have a better approach that could last for the next decade :). best, -- Pierre