[wp-hackers] echo and return

[lowmagnet at lowmag.net]

On Tue, Jul 27, 2004 at 04:10:34PM +0200, Szilveszter Farkas wrote:
> SM> my_function( array( "foo" => $foo, "option" => true, "whatever" => 1) );
> 
> after following this thread for quite a while, this is the best solution
> i could find for the problem. of course in this case the user has to
> be a bit familiar with php, too (but on the other hand it's not easy
> to get used to url type parameters as a newbie either).

It seems that this would become the syntax:

<?php echo the_date(array("before" => "<h2>", "after" => "</h2>")); ?>

A combination of well-designed keys and array passing would give us three benefits:

1. The array syntax uses "x" => "a", which is easier to read due to allowance for whitespace.
2. The array syntax provides run-time checking, while the urlencoded parameters do not.
3. The array syntax, when used with meaningful parameters, is self-documenting.

It also provides a detriment:

1. The default would be all-or-nothing in the function declaration:

...( $input = array("foo" => "bar") )

would be completely overridden if you set the input to:

...( array("baz" => "fizzle") ); results in:
Array([baz]=>"fizzle") (note lack of '[foo]=>"bar"')

We would have to override individual keys with the array_merge function:

$settings = array_merge($defaults, $input);

This will push the new input over the default. From the manual: 

" If the input arrays have the same string keys, then the later value for that key will overwrite the previous one. "

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-merge.php

Any takers on this technique?

-eli