Hi
this is a proposal to add new function to PHP core: spl_object_id() > IMHO this is a good idea: currently, var_dump has this super-power (and super-useful) capability of outputting a number that ease recognizing identical objects in dumps. This power should be transferred to userland devs so they can build their own tools. In fact, that's what I've done: since Symfony 2.6, you can dump using a userland function that (IMHO again) is more powerful than var_dump: http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/var_dumper/introduction.html In order to get an object's id, I use a trick that works for now: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/2.6/src/Symfony/Component/VarDumper/Cloner/VarCloner.php#L258-L282 But I'd prefer replacing this trick by a dedicated function. So, with Julien Pauli, we worked on such a function. Symfony 2.6 also embeds a PHP extension that exposes more meta data about variables: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/tree/2.6/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/Resources/ext The function implemented in this extension is the root primitive that enables building a feature-full dumper, without resorting to tricks in PHP. Any interest in putting this in PHP core? Please feel free to do so, you have my vote :) Many thanks, Nicolas
