[egeozcan]

Hey, I totally agree! That's why I said a new extension (not necessarily a language extension, maybe a file extension that switches to alternate parser like, hmm, ".phpx") and both ways compatible. Including the "new style" would be possible from "classic style" and vice versa.

[jtreminio]

Look at Hack. They would be easier to convince than PHP core.

I for one love the $ and wish other languages had a clear identifier for human variables.