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Hello internals,
I'm ready as I'm going to be to introduce to you: "Records" https://wiki..php.net/rfc/records!
Records allow for a lightweight syntax for defining value objects. These are superior to read-only
classes due to having value semantics and far less boilerplate, for most things developers use
read-only classes for. They are almost as simple to use as arrays (and provide much of the same
semantics), but typed.
As an example, if you wanted to define a simple User record:
record User(string $emailAddress, int $databaseId);
Then using it is as simple as calling it like a function, with the & symbol:
$rob = &User("[email protected]", 1);
Since it has value semantics, we can get another instance, and it is strongly equal to another of
the same parameters:
$otherRob = &User("[email protected]", 1);
assert($otherRob === $rob); // true
Records may also have methods (even hooks), use traits, and implement interfaces:
record Vector3(float $x, float $y, $z) implements Vector {
use Vector;
public float magnitude {
get => return sqrt($this->x ** 2 + $this->y ** 2 + $this->z ** 2)
}
}
Further, an automatic (but overridable) "with" method is generated for every record. This
allows you to get a new record similar to a given one, very easily:
record Planet(string $name);
$earth = &Planet("earth");
$mars = $earth->with(name: "mars");
The depth of records was an immense exploration of the PHP engine, language design, and is hopefully
quite powerful for the needs of everyday PHP and niche libraries. I took care in every aspect and
tried to cover every possible case in the RFC, but I still probably missed some things. I plan on
having a full implementation done by the end of the year and open to a vote by the end of January,
but I'd like to open the discussion up here first. Love it or hate it, I'd like to hear
your thoughts.
— Rob