Dialect of PHP written in Go with many modern features

namespace main

use os\{args, File}

function run(Array $files) {
  foreach $files as $name {
    $file = try { 
      File::open($args) 
    } catch (os\Exception $exception) {
      println("failed to open file: {0}"->format($exception->getMessage()))
      continue
    }

    $content = if $file->isDir() 
      "dir: {0}"->format($file->path()) 
        else $file->readAll()

    println($content)
  }
}

run(args()[1:])

Why

The project is a sort of a research and there's no aim to prepare a drop-in replacement for current implementations of PHP like native or Hack.

Motivation

PHP is commonly known as a bad design fractal and lacks a lot of progress made in Programming Languages theory for last 20 years. On the other side PHP is still the language of the Web. This project is just one vision of how the issues of the language might be solved.

Exapmples

Optional semicolons

$array = [1, 2, 3]
$antotherVar = 365

Top level constants

namespace math

const Pi = 3.14
...

println(math\Pi); // 3.14

Last statement is a return statement

function makeArray(): Array { [] }
println(makeArray()) // []

Everything is a value

const Greeting = "Hello "

function helloWorld(String $name) { println(Greeting + $name) }
$helloFunc = helloWorld

foreach ["Pavel", "Kristina"] as $index => $value {
  function(int $i) { print("" + $i + ": ") }($index)
  $helloFunc($value)
}
// 0: Hello Pavel
// 1: Hello Kristina

Range operator

foreach 0..3 as $i { println($i) }
// 0
// 1
// 2

Type is a constant object

println(Integer) // <type 'ClassInteger'>

Everything (almost) is epxression

$integerVar = try { someHeavyCalculation() } catch (MemoryException $e) { 0 }