But whilst the post was interesting I'd say that you could do a very similar thing to any language.

Easy pickings! >;-)

Then again this comment is just the same!

That create_function looks pretty dirty! It’s a shame because lambda functions make a lot of patterns way clearer. For example, Ruby uses blocks (which are *almost* lambdas) for iterators and resource management, JavaScript uses them for events, and Smalltalk even uses them for conditionals.

They make a lot of things possible without introducing new syntax to address every little thing. More importantly they empower developers instead of requiring changes to the language.

I don’t think there’s anything native to prevent XSS but I suspect there’ll be frameworks out there that will help with this. Framework equals learning curve and vendor lock in and don’t lend themselves to existing applications. I haven’t been brave enough to look too hard at any particular one yet.

PHP has anonymous functions but no enclosures. What I don’t like about declaring the anonymous functions is that the function code must be specified as a string. This sucks because you have to go escaping quotes etc. Never had to use them. Makes me feel slightly warmer than cold to know they’ve got my back for some retarded situation.

How would string interpolation in Java make your life so much better that it would be worth provebially springing someone’s mortal coil? it just feels like a convenience that is open to misunderstanding – remember that the “you must be this high to ride” sign for PHP is much lower than Java.

Given that PHP has builtin stuff for preventing SQL injection, does it have anything for XSS or is that just left up to developers to try and address?

Also, “with” exists in JavaScript, but it’s looked down upon because it’s not always obvious which scope is being used. One (better) approach is to use an anonymous function, like (function (baz) { /* do stuff with baz */})(foo.bar.baz). If PHP has closures/anonymous functions/lambdas you might be able to do something similar.

Aaaand, you’re crazy for not liking string interpolation! I’d kill to have that in Java!