Description:
------------
This was already reported 'fixed' in
http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38102
http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=37667
but I think the 'fix' is wrong.

It renders __get and __set a LOT less useful then they could be.

__get and __set should provide a means to replace public fields while maintaining the interface.

With the provided 'fix' this is not possible. Code like
$r->Property[] = new Class2();
works fine for Property as a public field but breaks if Property is replaced using __get and __set.

We all agree __get should not return a reference. Instead I think that cases that involve read and write operations like [] and += and .= should equal a call to __get and a subsequent call to __set. More specificially:

$r->Property[] = new Class2();

should equal

$x = $r->__get('Property');
$x[] = new Class2();
$r->__set('Property',$x);

This is exactly the way C# does it. See http://www.geocities.com/csharpfaq/properties.html

Reproduce code:
---------------
class Class1 {
  protected $property = array();
  function __get($name) {
    return $this->property;
  }
}
class Class2 {}
$r = new Class1();
$r->Property[] = new Class2();
$r->Property[] = new Class2();
var_dump($r);

Expected result:
----------------
object(Class1)#1 (1) {
  ["property:protected"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    object(Class2)#2 (0) {
    }
    [0]=>
    object(Class2)#3 (0) {
    }
  }
}

Actual result:
--------------
In PHP 5.3.0-dev (cli) (built: Oct 30 2007 08:45:02):

object(Class1)#1 (1) {
  ["property:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
}