Why not just check the type of the parameter? No conversion needed at all. If its a long -> exit/no show it. If anything else (well, thats to argue, but not the point) exit and show. It would be that easy. And, in that case, I don't care about the number of broken scripts. Prove there are more then you got fingers on your hand. And even those, you can fix under a second.
On Wed, Dec 19, 2001 at 03:33:15PM -0800, Lars Torben Wilson wrote : > Vlad Krupin writes: > > Please, understand me correctly - I have nothing against exit() working > > in the same manner regardless of the type of the argument. I would love > > to see that. The problem is that (1) it already accepts a string, and > > has been working that way for a long time, so this can't go away, and > > (2) there is no other way (AFAIK) to set exit codes, and some people > > need that. Those are somewhat contradicting requirements, so we might > > have to compromise. > > > > I do have a problem with the compromise you proposed though, if I > > understood you correctly. You suggest using something like > > > > > exit("1boo") > > > > And having exit() parse the first digit out. That's BAD. What if > > It's not parsing anything. It's just converting to int using the well > documented rules of string to integer conversion which have existed in > the language for years. The language is pretty much impossible to use > without running into implicit type conversions--it's designed for > it. That's why the current behaviour of exit() breaks consistency. > Please, check out the Type Juggling section of the manual. This > shouldq not a special case, but it currently is treated as one. It > should behave the way the rest of the language behaves. > > > someone already uses exit("123, 456 servers are unavailable"); or > > something similar. How should we parse something like that? Chances > > Again, we don't. We let the language deal with it like it does every > other string->integer conversion. > > > of that are slim, but just as good as Zeev's argument where he says > > that there are scripts out there that rely on the current > > implementation of exit(), e.g. one of his own. Jamming two values > > into a storage space designed for a single value (a string) is bad > > :( > > In the case you gave, the only difference the user would notice > would be that the exit status of the script would be 123 instead of > 0. It would still print out the '123, 456 servers are unavailable'. > > > Vlad > > > > > > > > Lars Torben Wilson wrote: > > > > >Vlad Krupin writes: > > > > > >>Lars Torben Wilson wrote: > > >> > > >>>Perhaps I have not explained my position. I don't care whether it > > >>>outputs the exit status as a string--as long as it sets the error code > > >>>appropriately *as well*. By appropriately, I mean that 'exit("boo");' > > >>>would a) print 'boo' and b) return with exit status 0, but > > >>>'exit("1boo")'; would a) print '1boo' and b) return with exit status > > >>>1. This would be consistent with PHP's type conversion rules, and > > >>>would also tend to behave in the way that the programmer expects it > > >>>to. > > >>> > > >>Yikes. This is way worse than overloading. In school they called that > > >>data-coupling, I think. In real life this is called a hack. > > >> > > >>Sorry, but a -1 on this. > > >> > > >>Vlad > > >> > > > > > >No, it's called loose typing. See > > > > > >>http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.conversion > > > > > >We have a language here which considers the integer value of "5" to > > >be 5, and an exit() construct which ignores that. > > > > > >For instance: > > > > > > shanna% php -q > > > <?php exit('5'); ?> > > > 5 > > > > > > shanna% echo $? > > > 0 > > > > > > shanna% php -q > > > <?php exit(5); ?> > > > 5 > > > > > > shanna% echo $? > > > 5 > > > > > >How much sense does this make? None, as far as I can see. > > > > > >What I'm proposing is to make the behaviour of exit() _not_ depend on > > >the type of its argument. At present if the argument is an integer > > >exit() prints it and sets the error status, but if it's any other > > >type, exit() just prints it and doesn't set the exit status. This is > > >more complex than my proposal: no matter what the argument is, print > > >out its string value, and set the exit status to its integer value. > > > > > >AFAICT exit() is currently broken wrt how it handles the type of its > > >argument. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Torben Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > http://www.thebuttlesschaps.com > http://www.hybrid17.com > http://www.inflatableeye.com > +1.604.709.0506 > > > -- > PHP Development Mailing List <http://www.php.net/> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Please always Cc to me when replying to me on the lists. -- PHP Development Mailing List <http://www.php.net/> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]