RE: [PHP-DEV] Introducing "Array Of" RFC

> -----Original Message----- > From: Philip Sturgeon [mailto:pjsturgeon@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 2:54 PM > To: PHP Developers Mailing List > Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Introducing "Array Of" RFC > > On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 4:34 PM, Marco Pivetta <ocramius@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > On 27 February 2014 22:11, Philip Sturgeon <pjsturgeon@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> So, should we allow nulls in an arrayof-style type hint? > >> > > > > null has its own type, which is mismatching the type > > required by the > > array-of syntax when requesting, for example, Foo[]. > > > > If null was allowed in the array, as a user, I'd > > still be forced to > > array_filter() on every call, so it would defeat the new > > feature > > completely. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Marco Pivetta > > > > http://twitter.com/Ocramius > > > > http://ocramius.github.com/ > > > > I completely agree with you and the other folks saying: "Allowing > nulls would defeat the new feature completely". Personally I would not > see myself using the "Foo or null", and if I wanted to in the future I > could very easily just not type hint the array. > > > On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 4:34 PM, Andrea Faulds <ajf@ajf.me> wrote: > > > > On 27 Feb 2014, at 21:11, Philip Sturgeon <pjsturgeon@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > So, should we allow nulls in an arrayof-style type hint? > > > > > > I previously suggested using the C#-style ? to specify nullability. Why > > can't we do that? > > > > -- > > Andrea Faulds > > http://ajf.me/ > > We could potentially add in the ? syntax later on, if people seemed to > want the feature enough? > Just to make sure we are on the same page here, nullable arrays are > fine. Arrays with nulls inside are not. > > Both of these are acceptable: > > function foo(Bar[] $baz) // accepts [new Bar, new Bar] > function foo(Bar[] $baz = null) // accepts [new Bar, new Bar] or null > > Some people are suggesting the following alternatives. > > 1. Let nulls in there regardless of default var hinting: > > function foo(Bar[] $baz) // accepts [new Bar, null, new Bar, null] > function foo(Bar[] $baz = null) // accepts [new Bar, null, new > Bar, null] or null > > This is what many describe as a completely useless version of the > feature, as array_filter would need to be run to ensure you're only > working with objects of a certain type (which is 90% of the use-case > for this RFC). > > Or, 2. Offer optional syntax for arrays containing nulls > > function foo(Bar[]? $baz) // accepts [new Bar, null, new Bar, null] > function foo(Bar[]? $baz = null) // accepts [new Bar, null, new > Bar, null] or null > > Pro: Keeps nulls out of the array by default, offers a way to say "Bar or null" > Con: Potentially syntax soup. > > -- > PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php I brought up that null in an array is a valid use case at the beginning of this discussion and that the RFC should deal with such use cases - otherwise it is incomplete. I still claim it is incomplete if this topic is not addressed but I am happy if option 2 is implemented later on.