[chuck8088]

This article makes a great case WHY the pipe operator is useful, but why didn't they just rewrite those functions to support method chaining? ` $profit = [1, 4, 5] .loadSeveral() .filter(isOnSale()) .map(sellWidget()) .array_sum(); ` this has the side benefit of 'looking normal'

[wsatb]

Backwards compatibility. The language has done a pretty amazing job at adding features over the last 10 years without really breaking a lot of old code. I believe PHP still runs about 75% of the internet, so that's pretty huge.

[moebrowne]

The Python 2 to 3 upgrade is a example of how important backwards compatibility is

[troupo]

Because pipes work on all functions, not just object methods. So your business logic, validations etc. don't have to be methods of the built-in objects.

And there's nothing abnormal about pipes