No, it's definitely not that hard to write, but I have seeing 'array()' everywhere when I know damn well that it's an array.
Concerning the 'pass by reference' problems, I'm going to assume that that's happening when you're working with some of the functions already in PHP or someone else's code, when you don't exactly know (or remember) that a function does something particular to the parameters. I know how I design my functions and I've never had any problems with passing in array literals. I do it all the time and the only problem I have is having to write in this function-like syntax for an array literal. > Now PHP is how people make their living. People rely on it. It can not > change on a whim because someone wants to save 5 key strokes when they > are creating an array. Use a decent editor and write a macro. See, the thing about having them both work is that none of the previous code would be affected. It would allow ability to use it for those who want to, and to use the older syntax for those who don't. And simply writing a macro with a decent text editor isn't solving my issue with 'array()' everywhere – my issue is that this is everywhere instead of something shorter like [...]. I see it as expanding the functionality of the brackets from just being used for retreiving and setting array properties, but creating them as well. As in: $created_array = ['key1'=>'value', 'key2'=>'value']; $created_array['key3'] = "value"; $key2 = $created_array['key2']; Etc. You see, it's just evolution for the brackets, expanding to fill the rest of its role. I don't see PHP as necessarily crippled, you're right, but I do see it as something that does not make sense. Creating an array shouldn't require what looks like a function, whereas I can understand 'include()', 'echo()', et al would take that form because they do behave and respond like functions. For me, I see the whole block of code as the array, not just what goes inside the ()s. It doesn't make sense to have something that looks like a function as part of the actual data. M.T.