[imakesnowflakes]

> This is the exact bull* that good hearted Haskell and Lisp guys have to face and fix because of arrogant people like you.

No. It is not. It takes a lot more effort to produce the code of same quality in php. For one thin, you have to consider that one has to keep and endless list of gotchas and edge cases (yes, all languages have these, but the list is nowhere near as long as it is in php) in mind when writing any amount of php code.

>You can write crystal clear code in PHP that anyone who started with C..

tell me, what does this code do, in php?

$a = array('1' => 'one');

What is the value of $a after this statement?

Answer: It appears that it is creating a dictionary with a string key that maps to another string value, but instead it creates a numerically indexed array with value 'one' stored at numeric index 1.

Do you call this 'Crystal clear'?

PHP is a language that breaks the principle of least surprise at every turn. Please don't say you can write crystal clear code in it, if you are actually interested in spreading information and knowledge, as you put it.

[bite_victim]

Isn't the word 'array' quite obvious that it will create an array? Since PHP 5.4 you actually have the shorthand "[]" version available but it is still obvious to anyone who is using PHP or JavaScript (though JS arrays aren't hash maps like PHP's -- you need an object for that).

But I agree, it's crystal clear for anyone with a minor PHP knowledge. For the rest it's just "clear". (It will still work calling $a['1'] with the quotes so what exactly is the issue? If you mean the drawbacks of type coercion not sure if this example is the best one.)

[imakesnowflakes]

>It will still work calling $a['1'] with the quotes so what exactly is the issue?

Oh yea. Try this.

    $a = array ('1' => 'one');

    foreach ($a as $k=>$v) {

    if ($a === '1') {

      echo "found one";

    }

    }

Surprise! Never prints "found one".

THAT is the issue! I used '===' so I should be safe from type coercion issues, right? Well, a hidden rule in php says no.

See this bug..oops feature, when it bit even experienced php programmers here

https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/2zhg6z/how_true_is_thi...

See that post and the comment from the user e-tron. Both of them who are experienced php programmers

[codygman]

from that post:

> Bad idea? Sure. But once you know the enemy you can deal with it

Why surround yourself with more enemies than those that inherently exist in your business logic/problem domain? The problem with PHP is all of those "no big deal tiny issues" add up to something reminiscent of death by 1000 papercuts.

[imakesnowflakes]

A correction. it is

    if ($k === '1') instead of if ($a === '1')..