ID: 25734
User updated by: rbotzer at yahoo dot com
Reported By: rbotzer at yahoo dot com
-Status: Bogus
+Status: Open
Bug Type: Feature/Change Request
Operating System: MacOS X
PHP Version: 4.3.3
New Comment:
First, backwards compatability actually will still be maintained. An
extended list of FALSE type-casts will support the subset of previous
versions. For example, if a new String function is added in 4.3.4,
that doesn't mean that 4.3.4 doesn't support the subset of String
functions from 4.3.3. Therefore, code that was developed before will
not depend on the new type-casting, and backwards compatability will be
maintained.
Second, I am not talking about the noun 'false', so comparisons to
'nyet' aren't relevant. I'm talking about type casting the string
'false' to the boolean FALSE. Let's not claim that PHP is strongly
typed, since it isn't. Due to the fact that it is a loosely typed
scripting language, the scenario should make sense:
assume isValidUser is an RPC that uses SOAP and recieves strings
"false" or "true" - where these are actually boolean values. Then the
line:
if ((boolean) $this->isValidUser())
should not evaluate to true if the method returned "false". It should
cast into FALSE.
I'm just suggesting a common sense thing here - treating
(boolean)"false" as the boolean value FALSE. I'm not talking about all
the nouns for 'false' in all languages. Consider that (boolean)0 ===
FALSE is just as arbitrary, and much less clear than (boolean)"false"
being FALSE rather than TRUE.
Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2003-10-02 13:08:55] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bad idea - think about backwards compatibility.
And what would be next? Should "no", "off", "nyet", "falsch" and a
bunch of other strings also evaluate to false?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2003-10-02 12:57:52] rbotzer at yahoo dot com
Description:
------------
When I type-cast the string "false" into a boolean it evaluates to
TRUE. This is non-sensical. Can we please change the type-casting so
that it evaluates as FALSE.
Thanks,
Ronen Botzer
Reproduce code:
---------------
<?php
// start example:
$x = "false";
if ($x === "false") {
print ("the string value of x is evaluating as \"false\" \n");
var_dump ($x);
print ("\n");
}
$y = (boolean) $x;
print ("\$x was type-cast into boolean \$y\n\n");
if ($y) {
print ("the boolean value of x is evaluating as true\n");
var_dump ($y);
}
// end example
?>
Expected result:
----------------
I expect to only see a printout from the first conditional. The second
should evaluate as false, and not print.
Actual result:
--------------
the string value of x is evaluating as "false"
string(5) "false"
$x was type-cast into boolean $y
the boolean value of x is evaluating as true
bool(true)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=25734&edit=1
