On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 8:53 AM, Rowan Collins <rowan.coll...@gmail.com> wrote:
> François Laupretre wrote on 12/02/2015 14:56: > >> Sorry to get off-topic but could we raise the 'undefined variable' error >> to E_WARNING, at least ? E_NOTICE seems very low for such an error. >> > > I think the division between E_NOTICE and E_WARNING is a bit arbitrary > sometimes, but without a good definition of the difference, I think it's > unhelpful to introduce "inflation" by raising severities. Don't forget that > while an undefined variable is sometimes an error, it's sometimes just poor > coding style, and the user is consciously relying on the implicit null > (e.g. $count++, or $hash[$key] = $value, or even echo $hash[$key]). > > Perhaps what's needed is a survey of current messages, and an RFC to > reclassify them based on some consistent definitions? > > Regards, > -- > Rowan Collins > [IMSoP] > > -- > PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > I would also like to see undefined variables escalated to E_WARNING. Even though it is often bad coding style, it's also frequently just an oversight on the part of the developer; an oversight that can lead to unexpected results. Since it's very common for environments to display E_WARNING but not E_NOTICE, some devs-- particularly those who are less experienced in PHP-- can end up wasting a lot of time trying to chase down the behavior because they're not seeing any errors. Besides, making it only an E_NOTICE, we're encouraging people to develop bad habits that can and do lead to all kinds of problems down the line. I know many devs who erroneously believe that declaring variables is actually discouraged in PHP. When I point out that not declaring a variable will throw a notice, they always seem surprised; something along the lines of, "Oh yeah I never see those." Given the problems that can arise from this, I think that's reasonable justification enough to make this an E_WARNING instead of E_NOTICE. --Kris
