PHP direction? (Was: RE: PHP 4.0.0Release packaged)

>
> > But lets move on.  I talked with Evan Klinger that told me that he
> > added code to PHP 4 to support calls like select()/listen() to
> > sockets, but you guys commented out the code to have it reimplement
> > somehow more convinient. What's the status of that?  I really could
> > use those functions for many interesting purposes that are useful for
> > Web developers (backend servers without needing Web servers and other
> > sorts of TCP deamons).
>
> Well, we do have some code review.  Evan's code was a bit akward and needs
> to be cleaned up before it can go in.
>
> -Rasmus

What is the policy on new functions anyway? Is there any 'direction' PHP is
going in,
or will it explode into all kinds of directions?

What I liked about PHP is that it previously had a focus on webscripting.
Adding functions
like listen/select is without doubt losing that focus.

Because... if you have listen/select, you will need sockets (available in
limited forms),
if you have sockets you'll need socket creation, information and
manipulation functions
(also absent), and before you know it.. *BOOM* - Perl II.

(Some other very poorly implemented and/or architecturally limited support
for various
IPC functions should dissapear from PHP too, IMHO.)

The above scenario may or may not be a good thing, depening on what you want
out of php.

If it is a good thing or not is not the discussion here, I'm only asking if
there is a direction,
and if so - what is it? :)

Regards,

Sander