On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 7:27 AM, Daniel Kinzler daniel@brightbyte.de wrote:
Now that we target PHP 5.5, some people are itching to make use of some new language features, like the new array syntax, e.g. https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/269745/.
Mass changes like this, or similar changes relating to coding style, tend to lead to controversy. I want to make sure we have a discussion about this here, to avoid having the argument over and over on any such patch.
Please give a quick PRO or CON response as a basis for discussion.
PRO. These syntax changes were implemented in PHP at the cost of breaking backward-compatibility, which tells you that people understood their value and were willing to pay a cost for modernizing and simplifying the language. If PHP was willing to pay it, why wouldn't we?