Posted by Bent Stigsen on 07/17/06 07:21

Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> Bent Stigsen wrote:
[snip]
> True, I'm not using it in the C sense. But I'm not using "define" in
> the Cobol sense, either :-). In PHP, assigning a value to a variable
> defines it.

That sortof went over my head. Never done Cobol. :)
I didn't really consider the subtler differences. Not sure I understand
PHP's way anyway. For instance:

unset($a);
$b = null;

"isset" returns false for both $a and $b, even though key of 'b' is present
in the $GLOBALS array.
Use of $a will generate a notice, but not when using $b.

I don't understand the point in that.


> And it can't be used anyplace other then the left side of
> an assignment operator (rvalue in C terms) until it is defined.

Not sure I follow. I think it would depend on what the intention and
situation. In vito's case, there shouldn't be a problem using it
($array[$i][1]) as an rvalue when undefined if just used to concatenate
strings, as it will initially just appear as an empty string. Just
suppressing the notice should work fine.
I.e.: $array[$i][1] = @$array[$i][1] . $line;

In other cases it, then sure it would be an error.


> However, most C programmers aren't aware of the terms lvalue and rvalue,
> either, or if they are, have only a hazy idea of what they mean.

Would they not know? I believe the compiler will use the terms if one screws
up, allthough perhaps one should be drunk to cause it.


[snip]
> Now in C/C++ I have done this. But these programs are typically much
> more complex than PHP programs. For instance - I haven't seen too many
> 500K LOC PHP programs. But I have worked on several over the years in
> C/C++.

Can be generated in seconds, no biggie :)

awk 'BEGIN{print"<?php";for(i=0;i<ARGV[1];i++){printf"echo\"";
n=int(35*(1+sin(i/10)));for(j=0;j<int(n/8);j++)printf"\t";
for(j=0;j<n%8;j++)printf"\040";printf("%d\\n\";\n",i)}
print"?>";}' 500001 > bigbadacode.php

Bit of a memory-hog and pretty useless though, but it exceeds 500K.


> My point being - PHP is a different language - and one should be
> approaching PHP development differently than C/C++ development.

For sure. My oppinion of PHP varies a lot. One day I would consider it a
rotting stinking goat carcass which only dogs would take a roll in
(figuratively speaking, no offense to dogs), find myself rolling in it the
very next day, and cant stand the smell on the third day.

--
/Bent

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