Re: Exception throwed if parent::__construct() not called in \DirectoryIterator subclass

On 28 July 2011 20:36, John Crenshaw <johncrenshaw@priacta.com> wrote: > > > 2011/7/28 Frédéric Hardy <frederic.hardy@mageekbox.net>: >> Hello ! >> >> In PHP 5.4 alpha, an exception is throwing if a subclass of >> \DirectoryIterator not called the parent constructor. >> Moreover, this exception can not be catched in the constructor of the >> subclass. >> This behavious seems to be a good idea, because \DirectoryIterator may be in >> an inconsistant state if the parent constructor is not called. >> But i think that it's not a good idea, because it's a BC break. >> It's not the case in 5.3 and i have unit test cases which fail by this new >> behavior, because moked \DirectoryIterator class does not call the parent >> constructor. >> In context of unit test, the fact that \DirectoryIterator is inconsistant >> may be not a problem and can be the desired behavior. > > I strongly agree. Throwing an exception ONLY because the parent constructor wasn't called > is a serious departure from expectations. It is fine for other code in the parent class to fail > later due to incomplete/improper initialization which may likely be caused by failure to call the > parent constructor earlier, (In fact, that is even expected in many cases) but I cannot conceive of > any acceptable reason for the error described here. Even though the change was certainly well > intentioned, it clearly didn't account for the possibility of unusual but valid coding > situations (such as mocks and other code generation tactics that should be able to reasonably depend > on consistent language behaviors). If the constructor MUST be called, then it would seem that you must not be allowed to extend it and instead, have another method which you must use. Badly, beforeConstruct() and/or afterConstruct(), but then we are moving to AOP (which would be nice). Enforcement of the constructor can only be achieved by making it final. -- Richard Quadling Twitter : EE : Zend : PHPDoc @RQuadling : e-e.com/M_248814.html : bit.ly/9O8vFY : bit.ly/lFnVea