The PHP developers proposed P++, a strongly typed dialect

PHP Language Developers were made with the idea of ​​creating a new dialect of P++ that will help take the PHP language to the next level. In its current form, PHP development is hampered by the need to maintain compatibility with the existing code base of web projects, which keeps developers in a limited framework. As an exit offered in parallel, start developing a new dialect of PHP - P ++, the development of which will be carried out without regard to the need to maintain backward compatibility, which will add revolutionary improvements to the language and get rid of obsolete concepts.

The most notable changes in P++ will be the move to strong typing, the removal of the "‹?" tags, the deprecation of array() in favor of the "[]" syntax, and the removal of the global namespace for functions.

The project name is preselected as P++ (PHP Plus Plus), similar to C++. PHP and P++ are proposed to develop side by side and use a single runtime. Non-syntax low-level components, data structures, extensions, and performance optimizations will be developed for PHP and P++ at the same time, but PHP mode will remain backwards compatible, and P++ will allow experimentation with the evolution of the language.

It will be possible to mix PHP and P++ code in one application and execute with one interpreter, but the code splitting method has not yet been defined. At the same time, developers do not abandon plans to develop the PHP 8 branch, in which is planned add a JIT compiler and tools for portability with C/C++ libraries. The P++ project is still in the proposal discussion stage. The main proponent of P++ is Zeev Sourasky (Zeev Suraski), one of the leaders in the PHP developer community, co-founder of Zend Technologies and author of the Zend Engine.

Of objections opponents, one can note the fear of a lack of resources to promote the project (only two developers work on PHP full-time), the possibility of community fragmentation, competition with an existing language hack (PHP with static typing), the experience of the HHVM project (eventually refused support PHP and Hack in the same runtime), the need to change the semantics for strong typing, the danger of PHP stagnation and the development of innovations only in P ++, questions about the organization of coexistence and interaction between PHP and P ++ (non-trivial conversion of PHP code to P ++ (syntax can differ so much that application needs to be rewritten), P++'s incompatibility with existing PHP toolkits, and the need to convince toolkits, testers, and IDE authors to support the new edition).

Source: opennet.ru