>Like the match keyword, enums, closures etc. They are half-baked versions of what could be powerful and expressive features.
The problem is that the php project is maintained by (mostly) unsponsored contributors. There’s not a giant corporation behind it. Each of these new features are designed by a couple people (per rfc) and then discussed and voted by other contributors. The match keyword, for example, is consider as the future scope of this rfc which is still being worked on: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/pattern-matching
Also, a lot of these half baked features are designed to be implemented in steps because of what I said in my other paragraph and to increase the odds of being accepted (it’s well known that it’s hard to get an rfc accepted and a lot of good ones haven’t been able to pass the voting phase).
When you consider this, it’s amazing that we get so much from so little.
To be fair, PHP's internal development was once heavily sponsored by a corporation. That corporation's sponsored developer(s) were the primary source of resistance against BC breakage and forced the language to stagnate for years.
The problem is that the php project is maintained by (mostly) unsponsored contributors. There’s not a giant corporation behind it. Each of these new features are designed by a couple people (per rfc) and then discussed and voted by other contributors. The match keyword, for example, is consider as the future scope of this rfc which is still being worked on: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/pattern-matching
Also, a lot of these half baked features are designed to be implemented in steps because of what I said in my other paragraph and to increase the odds of being accepted (it’s well known that it’s hard to get an rfc accepted and a lot of good ones haven’t been able to pass the voting phase).
When you consider this, it’s amazing that we get so much from so little.