Re: Pre-RFC spitball - Namespace Load event

On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 12:35 PM Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.com> wrote: > On Fri, Jul 3, 2026, at 7:32 AM, Michael Morris wrote: > > > And this applies for use statements as well. For example, if `use > > A\foo;` is foo a class? a function, a constant? Who knows, but this is > > the moment to find out and execute this handler. > > It's known because the syntax says what it is. > > use Foo\Bar; // Bar is a class, or a namespace prefix. > use function Foo\Bar\baz; // baz is a function. > use const Foo\Bar\Beep; // Beep is a constant. > I had forgotten about that. It may simplify things then. Hmm... > > This feels somewhat similar to Python, where a given module can have an > __init__.py file that is automatically loaded the first time the module is > referenced. I'm not sure how well that maps into PHP (see previous > module/package/namespace threads), but it's an interesting model to explore > for function autoloading. > > --Larry Garfield > I was aware of the Python approach, but I'm also aware of how beloved magic file names are in PHP (as in, not - see the argument over treating an extension differently, let alone a reserved file name). Anyway, the main reason I brought this up is I cannot recall this exact approach being discussed before. I don't have the expertise to determine if the path is viable.