note 86216 added to language.oop5.typehinting

I find it rather frustrating that PHP has internal data types but doesn't allow optional hinting for it.  I REALLY needed it for something, so I found a way around it.

<?php
abstract class DataType
{
	protected $length;
	protected $precision;
	protected $number;
	
  public function __construct()
  {
    $this->number = false;
    $this->precision = null;
  }
	
	public function GetLength()
	{
		return $this->length;
	}
	
	public function IsNumber()
	{
		return $this->number;
	}

	public function GetPrecision()
	{
		return $this->precision;
	}
}

class Integer extends DataType
{
	public function __construct($length = 12)
	{
		parent::__construct();
		$this->number = true;
		$this->length = $length;
		$this->precision = 0;
	}
}

class Float extends DataType
{
  public function __construct($length = 12, $precision = 2)
  {
    parent::__construct();
    $this->number = true;
    $this->length = $length;
    $this->precision = $precision;
  }
}

class String extends DataType
{
	public function __construct($length = 255)
	{
		parent::__constructor();
		$this->length = $length;
	}
}
//etc etc through the types...
?>

then later I can do this...

<?php
final class Field
{
	public $Name;
	public $Mandatory;
	public $Hidden;
	public $ListField;
	public $Value;
	public $ForeignClass;
	public $ReadOnly;
	public $DataType;
	
	public function __construct($name, DataType $dataType, $mandatory = false, $listField = true, $value = null, $readOnly = false, BaseCBO $foreignClass = null)
	{
		$this->Name = $name;
		$this->DataType = $dataType;
		$this->Mandatory = $mandatory;
		$this->ListField = $listField;
		$this->Value = $value;
		$this->ReadOnly = $readOnly;
		$this->ForeignClass = $foreignClass;
	}
}

// ....

class DoSomeStuff
{
	public function DoGenericThings(Field $field)
	{
		if ($field->DataType instanceof Integer)
		{
			// do things for an integer field...
		}
	}
}
?>

I asked myself a few times if this was the right language for my problem, but there are so many good things about PHP that I made this as a dirty work around.
----
Server IP: 117.104.160.194
Probable Submitter: 203.214.47.162
----
Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.typehinting.php
Edit        -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/86216
Del: integrated  -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/integrated
Del: useless     -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/useless
Del: bad code    -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/bad+code
Del: spam        -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/spam
Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/non-english
Del: in docs     -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216/in+docs
Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86216
Reject      -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/86216
Search      -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php