Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=62162&edit=1
ID: 62162
Comment by: m00n dot silv3r at gmail dot com
Reported by: lcfsoft at gmail dot com
Summary: Autoloading for namespaces
Status: Open
Type: Feature/Change Request
Package: *General Issues
PHP Version: 5.4.4RC1
Block user comment: N
Private report: N
New Comment:
Autoloading namespaces would be a useful feature.
Previous Comments:
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[2013-01-28 13:23:18] shiranai7 at hotmail dot com
Hi. I am in no position to actually decide anything.
Using abstract classes was suggested by me as an alternative since abstract
classes can contain both functions and constants and can be autoloaded in
current version of PHP without any changes. Also there is virtually no
performance penalty when calling a static method instead of plain function.
Nevertheless, I agree with your point - there is currently no native way to
autoload namespaced functions and constants without use of a class wrapper or
the require_once() statement. While the "all class way" is popular way to
organise applications right now, this would be a nice thing to have in PHP.
In earlier comment I mentioned possible solution involving one or more
spl_*_register() functions. While the first two (autoloading based on single
function or constant) are not very pretty, the last one could be the solution
we are looking for.
I have thought this through and I might create a RFC page with detailed
description of how it would actually operate.
For now, consider this:
void spl_package_autoload_register (
callable $autoload_function(namespace, type, name),
[$throw = true],
[$prepend = false]
)
bool spl_package_autoload_unregister (
mixed $autoload_function
)
void spl_package_autoload_call(
string $namespace,
int $type, // SPL_PACKAGE_FUNCTION, SPL_PACKAGE_CONSTANT
string $name
)
Note that the "package" prefix is used just for demonstration. It could be
"namespace" or something else, but I think that "package" is better name for
group of namespaced functions and constants.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2013-01-28 00:00:46] dac514 at hotmail dot com
Agreed with lcfsoft.
What's the point of namespacing if we are told to use static class methods
instead? To
change underscores to backslashes because backslashes are "prettier"
than underscores? That's called class encapsulation. We already had that
feature.
Namespacing as a concept has been around for decades. For example, they were
available in
Perl in 1998. Namespaces as a concept is not inherently an OO feature. They are
simply a
container for a set of identifiers. Functions being valid identifiers in PHP.
Please reconsider.
Regards,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2012-09-05 09:03:59] judev at cuttlefish dot com
> But still - weird, mostly useless and overkill to implement just because
someone does not like :: in his identifier.
I disagree that this is mostly useless - far from it. If we had autoloading
based
on namespace access then namespace-based package/bundle management becomes
trivial.
Frameworks are having to implement this themselves at present, to take an
example
from Laravel we have to call:
Laravel\Bundle::start($bundle_name);
before we can access code in that bundle. Would be great if instead we could
use
the existing language features and just use a namespace to automatically load
that bundles code.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2012-05-29 13:50:40] rpycka at gmail dot com
I would also like to see this feature, especially in the context of function
autoloading and procedural programming.
1) It would make PP in PHP way more pleasant & effective (no need to spam
guards like require_once, no need for indirect dispatchers, obviously, not
loading code you don't need for particular request).
For a language that grew on procedural programming paradigm it's a shame
development in this area has been stalled for so many years (afair nothing have
changed since 4 in this regard).
2) There is a lot of code that could profit, e.g. Drupal.
3) Hacking with classes has its cons, eg. performance (what would be relative
difference between direct function call vs static method call and indirect
(callbacks)?).
4) How hard can it be? Checking for registered callback and running the
procedure before firing error.
Proposed interface by shiranai7 at hotmail dot com looks ok.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2012-05-28 18:24:24] shiranai7 at hotmail dot com
lcfsoft at gmail dot com,
>>> Zend_Crypt_Math_BigInteger_Bcmath, because, you see, the functionality is
>>> IDENTICAL to what we have with Zend\Crypt\Math\BigInteger\Bcmath now.
Yes, namespaces were introduced as a better alternative to ugly identifier
prefixes. But this has nothing to do with "autoloading functions".
--
My point is that this approach is rather unusual. Bunch of class-less functions
defined in a file is like pre-php 5 procedural code. Of course I am in no
position to tell anyone what is the correct way to organise their code or even
decide whether this will get eventually implemented or not.
My proposal for this would be something like:
spl_function_autoload_register( callback(function) )
and
spl_constant_autoload_register( callback(constant) )
or
spl_ns_autoload_register( callback(namespace, property ,type) )
But still - weird, mostly useless and overkill to implement just because
someone does not like :: in his identifier.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=62162
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