Re: RFC Proposal: New assign value operator

Hi everyone, I let this go before after getting a lot of friction to the idea but the more I think about the more I think it would be really useful. Since writing the original message I've been looking at golang and found that they have a := operation to infer type which is very similar to what I proposed. I'd like to try and start some discussion about this again as I think it would be very useful and really open up the possibility of having objects for primitive types. I shall try and think up some examples to show where I think this could be really useful and follow up this message with that shortly. Best regards to all, TOM On 25 Jun 2013 11:01, "Tom Oram" <tom@scl.co.uk> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I've got an idea for an RFC proposal and from reading the instructions it > looks like I should run it past you guys first. > > I have not made any contributions to PHP before although I have made some > custom modifications in house in the past and while I'm no longer familiar > with the PHP code base I am confident I have the skills to implement this > should it be accepted. > > What I want to propose is a new assignment operator which rather than > setting the variable to completely new value it would update the value > while maintaining the type. > > The main motivation for this is for easy assignment to value objects aka > assignment operator overloading via a magic method (prehaps called > __assign). > > Here is an example ( for now I will use the PASCAL style assignment > operator := as the new operator as it is a know assignment operator and > currently not used in PHP): > > // For a class defined like so... > class MoneyValue > { > protected $amount; > > public function __assign($value) > { > $this->amount = $value; > } > } > > // The amount could then be assigned using the new operator like this > > $price = new MoneyValue(); > > $price := 29.99; > > While the primary focus would be for assignment operator overloading as I > just displayed in the previous example, for consistency it could be used > with scalar values to preserve type like so: > > // $str is now a string > > $str = 'Original String'; > > // Using the new assignment variable would cast the value being assigned > to the variable's type > // (in this case a string). So > > $str := 7; > > // Would be the equivalent to > // > // $str = (string) 7; > // > // $str === "7" > > > Another quick example: > > $num = 5; > > $num := '12'; > > // Equivalent to > // > // $num = (int) '12'; > // > // $num === 12; > > So what do you guys think? > > If I get a good response I'll look into how to create a proper RFC and > start trying to work out how to implement it. > > Many thanks and look forward to some responses, > Tom > > > -- > **************************************************** > PLEASE NOTE: For support requests please > use support@scl.co.uk instead of emailing > staff directly, this way your request is likely to > be dealt with more efficiently. > **************************************************** > Tom Oram - SCL Internet Services > PO Box 8, Cardigan, Ceredigion, SA41 3YA > Website: http://www.scl.co.uk/ > Tel: +44 (0) 1239 622 411 > Fax: +44 (0) 1239 622428 > Company Reg. No. 2441708 > **************************************************** >