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PHP, on a Whim

PHP, on a Whim is a series about Whim, the experimental PHP-shaped language I use to test features, type-system ideas, and runtime changes without dragging PHP’s decades of compatibility constraints along for the ride. Each post takes one idea from syntax to implementation, looks at what worked, what broke, and what using it in real code taught me, then asks whether PHP could or should ever adopt something similar. Sometimes the result may inspire an RFC. Sometimes it may be a very detailed explanation of why the idea should stay the hell away from PHP.

1 published post

  1. PHP, on a Whim #0: A Language for PHP’s “What Ifs”

    Whim started as a weekend implementation of Lox, accidentally became interpreted Rust, and eventually turned into a PHP-shaped playground for language ideas. This first post tells that story, explains what Whim is actually for, why I do not trust it with serious production work, and why adding a feature to Whim in a day says absolutely nothing about how quickly it could or should land in PHP.