PHPit!

This library is a simple port of the beautiful syntax of Ruby. PHPit! drew inspiration from Prototype Javascript Library which ported Ruby's Enumerable functions to Javascript.

Usage

Array creation

In Ruby, creating arrays are as simple as:

array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

PHPit! enables easier syntax for array creation:

// PHPit!
$array = _A(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
// or in native PHP code:
$array = array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

Some would say: "It's just array() to _A() shorthand, eh?". Yes, it's just a shorthand, but with steroids.

The returned array from _A() shorthand function is not actually an array. It's an instance to an RArray object which contains many useful methods, borrowed from Ruby's Enumerable class.

Range... in PHP!

Ruby users are happy with this syntax:

range = (1..100);

PHP developers now can smile with this syntax:

// PHPit!
$range = _R(1, 100);
// which is the same as:
$range = array(1, 2, 3, ..., 99, 100);

Space delimited strings

Ruby programmers does this (might be familiar to Perl programmers):

words = %w{hello world this is nice};

Now PHP users can do this:

// PHPit!
$words = _W("hello world this is nice");
// the same as this native PHP code:
$words = array("hello", "world", "this", "is", "nice");

Here comes the Ruby steroid to PHP

Ruby iteration is damn easy:

words = %w{hello world this is nice};
words.each do |word|
  puts word + " -> "
end
# hello -> world -> this -> is -> nice ->

You know what? PHP can do that also!

// PHPit!
$words = _W("hello world this is nice");
$words->each(function($word) {
  print $word . " -> ";
});
// hello -> world -> this -> is -> nice ->

Almost similar, right? This type of syntax is made possible because of the recent changes in PHP 5.3.0. This code does not work in PHP < 5.3.0.

Ruby enumerable in PHP

Ruby inject

result = [1, 2, 3, 4].inject(0) do |total, value|
  total + value
end
# result = 10

PHP inject

// PHPit!
$result = _A(1, 2, 3, 4)->inject(0, function($total, $value) {
  return $total + $value;
});
// $result = 10

Ruby select

result = (1..10).select do |value|
  value % 3 == 0
end
# result = [3, 6, 9]

PHP select

// PHPit!
$result = _R(1, 10)->select(function($value) {
  return $value % 3 == 0;
});
// $result = array(3, 6, 9)

No matter what we do, it's impossible to beat Ruby's simplicity.

Some caveat:

PHP's nature not to have global variables inside any function. If we run this:

$connector = " ---- ";
_W("hello world this is nice")->each(function($word) {
  print $word . $connector;
});

PHP will produce notices because variable $connector is not recognized by the iterator function. To overcome this, PHP introduces the use keyword. "Use" it like so:

_W("hello world this is nice")->each(function($word) use($connector) {
  print $word . $connector;
});

The use keyword introduces $connector to the function. Just like PHP's global keyword.

RArray

Methods

visualize()

Returns a string representation of the RArray object. It is a recursive function.

inspect()

Alias for visualize()

get($index)

Returns the element at the specified $index.

native()

Returns PHP's native array from the RArray object.

Requirements

• PHP > 5.3.0

PHP 5.3.0 introduces the lambda style (anonymous) function to be used as a parameter of another function. PHPit! exploits this new feature to port the Enumerable methods in Ruby to PHP.

Discaimer

The creation of this library doesn't mean that PHP by itself can beat Ruby's simplicity. Copyright is for losers. Brainchild of Prototype JS Framework. Goodness of Ruby. I implemented them in PHP.