On 6-Feb-09, at 12:01 PM, Oleg Broytmann wrote:
It is, because it is now a part of *the language*. Changing the language is always a major change. If you don't understand - well, we failed to communicate, and I am stopping now.
It's OK. We just have different understanding of how "big" is "big".
You have to learn to live with small inconsistencies.
I'm perfectly fine with them. Have lived with them for a couple of years.
By comparison, what do we get by making "print" a function? Why not create a "put" or "echo" built-in function if we really want the flexibility? Isn't that a major, big scale change?
Yes, it was a major change, and it warranted a new major release - 3.0.
The original context is that you thought it's not worth a "big/major" change to make colons optional because we get nothing, then I asked by comparison what do we get by making "print" a function (a "bigger" change for me) when we really have the option to just add a new built- in function with a slightly different name.