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Bug #61924 cannot use self in interface function declaration
Submitted: 2012-05-03 14:20 UTC Modified: 2012-05-05 15:31 UTC
From: jenwelsh at yahoo dot com Assigned: laruence (profile)
Status: Not a bug Package: Class/Object related
PHP Version: 5.4.1 OS:
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
 [2012-05-03 14:20 UTC] jenwelsh at yahoo dot com
Description:
------------
I am reviewing existing code on a PHP5.4.1 testbed. I've discovered that interface declarations using 'self' as a type hint no longer allow implementations to use 'self' but require them to use the interface name.

It is no longer possible for an interface to declare a method that requires the implementor's class as a typehint without declaring that class specifically. And that would limit the usefulness of that interface to one class only.

Test script:
---------------
interface IComparable {
	public function equals(self $other);
}

class A implements IComparable{
	protected $var;
	
	public function __construct(self $v){
		$this->var=$v;
	}
	
	public function equals($other){
		return ($this->var == $other->var) ? 'equal' : 'different';
	}
}

$a1= new A(7);
$a2= new A(5);
$a3= new A(5);

echo $a1->equals($a2),"\n";
echo $a2->equals($a3),"\n";

Expected result:
----------------
different
equal


Actual result:
--------------
PHP Fatal error:  Declaration of A::equals() must be compatible with IComparable::equals(IComparable $other) 

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 [2012-05-03 14:45 UTC] laruence@php.net
it's always not allowed since php 5.2,  why are you thinking it worked once?
 [2012-05-03 14:52 UTC] laruence@php.net
or you can change it to a feature request :)
 [2012-05-03 14:52 UTC] laruence@php.net
-Status: Open +Status: Feedback
 [2012-05-03 15:22 UTC] jenwelsh at yahoo dot com
The reason I "think" it did work, is because it is **currently** working on a production site with PHP 5.3.11.  And it **has** been working for over 2 years.
 [2012-05-03 16:48 UTC] laruence@php.net
-Assigned To: +Assigned To: laruence
 [2012-05-03 16:48 UTC] laruence@php.net
Oh, sorry I misunderstanded , assign to my self , should have Sth to do with a fix 
made by me
 [2012-05-04 00:48 UTC] laruence@php.net
Actually, I think it's a improvement of PHP-5.4, this change is introduced by 
fixing this issue: https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=60573

before this, you declare 
class A implements IComparable{
	public function equals(self $other){
		return ($this->var == $other->var) ? 'equal' : 'different';
	}
}

actullay the self in here is A, not IComparable. 

but in the IComparable, the self means IComparable itsself.

In scrupulously, A is_a Icomparable, but not equal to Icomperable, what do you 
think? 

thanks
 [2012-05-04 02:18 UTC] colder@php.net
The rule was previously accepted as the type hints where simple syntactic check 
(basically string comparisons). This was wrong, and got fixed in 5.4.

You cannot use self/parent as type hints as they depend on the current type in a 
covariant fashion, and type hints need to be contravariant.

To explicit the problem in 5.3:

interface A { public function foo(self $a); } 
class B implements A { public function foo(self $a) { } }
class C implements A { public function foo(self $a) { } }


If B (and C) are  valid (per <php5.4 rules) implementations of A, it means that 
anything you are allowed to do on A should work on B (and C) (by Liskov's 
substitution principle)

now let's see:

function test(A $a) { $a->foo(new C); }

test(new B) will fail
test(new C) will work

A side effect from this fix is that the wrong typehint now fails with an error, 
since B/C are invalid implementations of A.
 [2012-05-04 02:24 UTC] colder@php.net
Just to make it clear, you can use self/parent as type hints, as long as the 
class they reference is right, for instance:

class A {
    public function foo(self $plop) { }
}

class B extends A {
    public function foo(A $plop) { }
}

class C extends A {
    public function foo(parent $plop) { } 
}

are all equally fine. since parent in C is A, and self in A is A.
 [2012-05-04 02:24 UTC] colder@php.net
-Status: Feedback +Status: Not a bug
 [2012-05-04 15:00 UTC] jenwelsh at yahoo dot com
I am in the unfortunate situation of agreeing that you are technically correct. 

But I must say that it makes using "self" as a typehint fairly useless in an interface. Now if I want to require that a method argument be same type as $this, I'll have to do it this way:

interface IComparable {
	public function equals($other);
}

class A implements IComparable{
	protected $var;
	function equals($other) {
		if(get_class($other)!== get_class($this)) throw Exception('wrong arg class');
		return $this->var==$other->var;
	}
}

And that will make the interface much less specific and strong.
 [2012-05-05 15:31 UTC] colder@php.net
You are confusing "specific and strong" with wrong. With self as a type hint, 
you make the type system unsound, which means that it will provide you with 
absolutely no (virtual) guarantees.

For example:
function isEqual(IComparable $a, IComparable $b) {
   return $a->equals($b);
}

even though the IComparable interface declares a equals function that takes a 
IComparable, this code is not valid if self typehints work the way you want.


Another design problem of your example is:

equals should be reflective, that is: $a->equals($b) should mean $b->equals($a); 
This fails to be the case if self typehints are possible:

class A extends IComparable {
   def equals(self $a) { return true; }
}
class B extends A {
   def equals(self $a) { return true; }
}
$a = new A; $b = new B;

$a->equals($b); // OK
$b->equals($a); // type error
 
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