Remove reference from return of getBounded

[kamil-tekiela]

From what I can see the reference is unused. It might be a leftover from some old code.

Reasoning:

• Array is a zval, every element in the array is a separate zval, and every property of the object is a zval.
• Only the property zvals are passed by reference to another function.
• You can replace the array and it won't change the binding. You can replace an element in the array and it won't change the binding. Only changing the value property would change the binding.
• startQuery is the only method which uses the referenced array but it doesn't take a referenced parameter, so it cannot change the referenced array.
• Therefore, there is no place in the code currently where this reference is used. It can be safely removed.

https://www.php.net/manual/en/features.gc.refcounting-basics.php#features.gc.compound-types

Technically, this is an ABI break, so I understand if you may not want to merge it because of that.

Code to test it and play around locally without DB:

<?php

class Sample
{
    private array $data = [];

    public function getBounded(): array
    {
        return $this->data;
    }

    public function passArray(array &$input)
    {
        $this->data = $input;
        $arr = $this->getBounded();
        $this->startQuery($arr);
        foreach ($arr as $i => $item) {
            $this->bindSingle($item->value, $i);
        }

        $this->data[0]->value = 10;
        $this->data[1] = new Dummy(20);
        $this->data = [new Dummy(30), new Dummy(40), new Dummy(50)];
    }

    private int $singleItem0 = 0;

    private int $singleItem1 = 0;

    private int $singleItem2 = 0;

    private function bindSingle(int &$item, int $index = 0)
    {
        $this->{"singleItem$index"} = &$item;
    }

    public function startQuery(array $items)
    {
        $items[1]->value = 99;
    }

    public function debugOutput()
    {
        var_dump($this->data);
        var_dump($this->singleItem0);
        var_dump($this->singleItem1);
        var_dump($this->singleItem2);
    }
}

$sample = new Sample();

class Dummy
{
    public function __construct(public int $value = 0)
    {
    }
}

$testDummy = new Dummy(3);
$input = [new Dummy(1), new Dummy(2), $testDummy];
$sample->passArray($input);
$testDummy->value = 555;
$sample->debugOutput();

[HLeithner]

I think the execute code can updated, but changing the method signature would require a new major version which is earliest plan in 2 years.

Not sure if it's worth to do it, on the other side it's really unlikely that anyone overrides this method.

[richard67]

Not sure if it's worse to do it, on the other side it's really unlikely that anyone overrides this method.

@HLeithner "worse"? Or "worth"?