Re: Re[4]: mixing of asign() and assign_by_ref() overwrites external vars

--- Dmitry Koteroff <[email protected]> wrote:
D> Do, $smarty->assign("a", "b") has EQUAL paradigm as PHP's $a="b".
D> Agree?  Do  you  plan  exactly  this  while  developing  assign()
D> function? Is it documented?

You know fully well that assign($name, $value) is a by-value (copy)
assignment. Of course, I didn't write that function but I think its use
is obvious. Further, I don't recall anyone having any confusion about
it as long as I've been reading the lists. The thing is, if you first
use assign_by_ref, then you get what's coming to you--a real reference,
just like PHP would do (as you know, Smarty vars are stored in an
array, so your reference is stored in an hash element instead of the
local PHP namespace--big difference that). Maybe someone is already
purposely using it with these semantical meanings, who knows? I suggest
that anyone interested take a look at the docs for assign_by_ref
http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/api.assign.by.ref.php.

D> It is not a problem. You may not use deprecated syntax at all.

So why add support for it, what, 2 years after it was deprecated? Does
that honestly make sense to you? I mean really.

D> Oh.

Right, there are already are ways to deal with this. We don't have to
alter what is probably the most used Smarty method to get all the
goodies you suggest--its been in there all this time.

D> But you surely can not modify API nor use deprecated syntax.

Grrr. It does modify the API. It introduces pass-by-reference into
assign() which is not what is allowed in the current or previous
versions.

D> So, now API is not touched, deprecated & call works as without &,
D> but  assign()  after  assign_by_ref()  does  not  modify  source
D> variable.

If it doesn't change the source variable, what was the point of using a
assign_by_ref() in the first place? You can ignore every other point I
make but if you bother to make any response at all it should be to this
point. This is why in an earlier post I said it was a feature
misuse--if you do not explicitly want reference behaviour, then do not
explicitly ask for it in the first place.

D> P.S.
D> It is now question of principle, of course, not practical.

Yes, if it was a practical issue, I'm sure I (and others) would lend
support behind it or something like it. If it is a matter of principle,
what do you suppose the principle at stake is?

I for one think this horse needs to be shot :)

On an ancillary note, it will be interesting to see how everything pans
out in the PHP5 timeframe where all of these PHP4 copy/ref semantics
take on new meanings, but that is another story...

Greetings,
xo boots



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