[PHP-DEV] Re: [Pre-RFC] Scalar object methods (with a working implementation)

Hi Rob,

 > Explicit casting in PHP is dangerous:
 > (int) "123password" === 123

Agreed, (int) is a footgun. But it's an argument for the typed-local 
path, not against the feature.

The cast is only one of the allowed forms, and the RFC doesn't change 
how casts behave. The safe way to get a guaranteed receiver from untyped 
input is a typed local, and those coerce under the same rules as a typed 
parameter or property, not cast rules. On 8.5:

     int $n = "123password";   // TypeError, in both weak and strict mode

so the typed path throws on exactly the input you're worried about, 
instead of silently giving you 123.

Leaning on "explicit cast" in the framing was the wrong emphasis on my 
part. If you want a checked int from user input you write int $n = ..., 
and it rejects the garbage. Casts stay as they are; they just aren't the 
path I should've pointed at.

Michal