php-lab — PHP language experiments

A workbench for exploring different language ideas in PHP — by hacking them into the real engine, not mocking them up. Each experiment pulls PHP 8.5 source, adds new syntax or types (from front-end desugars to compiler and engine work), and is kept as a self-contained patch that applies to a clean php-src and builds and tests on its own.

php-src/ is git-ignored and cloned on demand; each feature's changes live in features/.

Features

Ideas borrowed from Rust, Scala, Go, Ruby, Kotlin, Clojure, Scheme, JS, C#, Python, Raku, D, Nim, Groovy, Swift, Haskell, and ALGOL 60:

#	Feature	From	Folder
01	unless — negated if	Ruby	01-unless
02	Option/Result + ? propagation (??, match/instanceof, combinators)	Rust/Scala	02-option-result
03	for {} yield comprehensions	Scala	03-comprehensions
04	defer — scope-exit cleanup	Go	04-defer
05	with expressions — clone-with sugar	C#/Scala	05-with
06	val — write-once locals	Kotlin/Rust	06-val
07	Persistent Vector/Map/Set	Clojure	07-collections
08	Tagged template strings	JavaScript	08-tagged-templates
09	#[Memoize] executable decorator	Python	09-memoize
10	Refinements — scoped extension methods	Ruby	10-refinements
11	Context parameters — context/provide	Scala	11-context
12	recur + automatic self-TCO — constant-stack tail recursion	Clojure/Scheme	12-recur
13	Placeholder lambdas — _ implicit params	Scala/Raku	13-placeholder
14	Uniform Function Call Syntax — $obj->freeFn()	D/Nim	14-ufcs
15	Chained comparisons — a < b < c	Python	15-chained-comparisons
16	Spread-dot — $coll*->method()	Groovy	16-spread-dot
17	Trailing closures — usort($xs) { |$a, $b| … }	Swift/Ruby	17-trailing-closures
18	Lazy (by-name) parameters — lazy $msg	ALGOL 60/Scala	18-lazy-params
19	Infix function calls — $a max $b	Haskell/Kotlin	19-infix
20	lazy locals (lazy val) — computed on first read, memoised	Scala	20-lazy-val
21	apply builder blocks — lambda-with-receiver	Kotlin	21-apply

Each folder holds feature.patch, a README.md writeup, an RFC.md proposal, a tests/ suite, and smoke.sh.

Each patch stands alone

The patches are not a stacked series — you apply exactly one to a pristine php-src and it builds. Every feature has been compiled from clean PHP 8.5 and its tests run to green in isolation. Only two carry their one real prerequisite: 03 bundles the Option/Result types it iterates, 11 bundles defer.

Usage

scripts/setup.sh 04-defer      # clone php-src@TAG, reset clean, apply this feature, configure
scripts/build.sh               # build -> php-src/sapi/cli/php
features/04-defer/smoke.sh      # smoke test

Re-run scripts/setup.sh <feature> for another feature; it resets php-src first, so features never interact.

Try it in the browser

Each feature is also compiled to WebAssembly (one build per feature) and playable in the browser lab — pick a feature, edit the example, hit Run:

wasm/build.sh 04-defer         # build a feature to wasm (see wasm/README.md)
python3 -m http.server 8090    # serve the repo root
open http://localhost:8090/lab/

License

MIT for the original work in this repo (patches, lab, scripts, docs). The prebuilt wasm/dist/ artifacts embed the PHP interpreter (PHP License v3.01) and Emscripten runtime glue; the features/ patches are diffs against php-src (PHP License v3.01). See LICENSE for details.