Re: [RFC][Discussion] use construct (Block Scoping)

From: Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2025 19:47:09 +0000
Subject: Re: [RFC][Discussion] use construct (Block Scoping)
References: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  Groups: php.internals 
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On 11/29/25 13:12, Rowan Tommins [IMSoP] wrote:

I think the reason comparing to other languages is so important
relates to what Steve Klabnik calls "the Language Strangeness
Budget": https:// steveklabnik.com/writing/the-language-strangeness-
budget/

Anything that is going to surprise users coming from other
languages carries a cost which we need to justify. Generally, that
means either a) the expected way wouldn't work in PHP for some
reason; or b) we think we can do better by learning from the
problems of other languages.


Oooh! This is very cool!

This sounds a lot like "Jakob's Law of Internet User Experience,"
which states:


Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users
prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they
already know.[^1]


I've given a talk where I argue this principle carries over to
developer experience, as well. That is, developers prefer their tools
(and languages) to work the same way as other tools they already know.

Cheers,
Ben

[^1]: This is from the article "End of Web Design," published in 2000 by
Jakob Nielsen. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/end-of-web-design/


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