Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bite_victim 3971 days ago
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.)
1 comments
imakesnowflakes 3971 days ago
>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

link
codygman 3971 days ago
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.

link
imakesnowflakes 3970 days ago
A correction. it is

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