> > https://github.com/nikic/php-rfcs/blob/union-types/rfcs/0000-union-types-v2.md
Thank you Nikita, this would be a hugely welcomed step forward! Can't wait to get rid of all those docblock annotations! I've some additional suggestions that would greatly help remove more docblocks and provide engine-enforced type-safety, maybe for the "future scope" section. We use the all in Symfony: - we miss a stringable union type, for `string|__toString`. This is required when an API need lazyness regarding the generation of some strings. Right now, we have no other option but using string|object. - we use "@return $this" quite often. On the implementation side, I'd suggest enforcing this at compile time only (enforce all return points are explicit, and written as "return $this", similarly to what is done for nullable/void return types.) This makes sense only for return types. - we use "@return static" quite often too, typically when a method returns a clone of the current instance. If anyone wonders, this is not the same as "@return self" of methods overridden in child classes. This makes sense only for return types. About union types with void in them, we do use one in Symfony: Command::execute() has "@return int|void". The reason is that if we were to use "?int" instead, the engine would force the community to add "return null;" where no return statement is needed at all most of the time. Right now, we consider that the transition cost for the community is not worth the extra boilerplate this requires. Note that there would be only one friendly path forward: trigger a deprecation when null is returned, asking ppl to add "return 0;". Not sure how this should impact the proposal, but I thought it could be worth sharing. Thanks again, Nicolas
