But OOP-like syntax on non-object data is still weird. The question about
data manipulation behavior (is it a pointer like other objects or is it a
scalar like existing array?) is a tough one.
For the user's point of view there is no difference between the passing semantics of numbers/string primitives and objects. Only arrays differ.
However we already have ArrayAccess and so on for objects, which creates array-like objects with object passing semantics. So the idea that something that looks like array will have passing semantics like an array is already wrong in PHP. The clarity of passing semantics is not a valid argument against pseudo methods for string/int/float/array primitives.
Stan