RE: Mixed return type - boolean and array/resource/closure or object

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christoph Becker [mailto:cmbecker69@xxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 5:37 PM
> To: Robert Stoll; 'Sebastian Krebs'
> Cc: 'PHP General List'
> Subject: Re:  Mixed return type - boolean and array/resource/closure or object
> 
> Robert Stoll wrote:
> 
> > Nevertheless, the signature in the documentation implies that
> > date_create() returns always DateTime. I already submitted a patch to
> > change it to mixed :)
> 
> IMHO, the signature is fine, as false is returned only in *exceptional*
> cases.  To be strict, changing the return type to mixed had to be done
> for (nearly) *all* functions, because several may return false in error
> cases, and many will return null when wrong arguments are passed.
> 
> --
> Christoph M. Becker

I see your point. But IMO it is confusing that something else is returned than mentioned in the signature. I always take
strpos as a reference (it has mixed as return type). Yet, mixed is not really precise and I think it would be better to
have something like "int|false" or a shorter form, maybe "int!" to indicate that either int or false is returned. 

Changing strpos to int would be wrong IMO. I want to see at one glance from the signature of the function what it
returns. As I said mixed is not ideal either since I have to scroll down to 'Return Values' but better than confusing
me. 

About null, I see null as part of an object type. I know that many people would not agree on this one but for me it
makes sense.


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