missing overload for operators

[jobs-git]

Description

PHP does not have operator overload

USE CASES

• Readability and ease of use

  instead of writing it as:

  $a->add($b, $c, $d->div($s), $d->sub($r)->div($l->pow($p)))->sub($e->pow(10));

  if the code has lots of this, user might be questioning why not use another tool, which itself introduces additional point of failures when mixed with backend php

  with overload:

  $a + $b + $c + $d/$s - $e ** 10 + ($d - $r) / ($l ** $p)

  its easier to understand and user can spot if there is a problem with the expression as defined

• Operating on vectors
  as this demonstrates: https://gist.github.com/jbtronics/ee6431e52c161ddd006f8bb7e4f5bcd6

• Matrix operations for Machine Learning, AI, Scientific calculations
  i think the current limitations of PHP is another factor slowing its adoption on these areas, while there are existing libraries that can do the heavy lifting, at some point user might need to build a backend code to process those results, possible solution might include 3rd party extensions or just use another tool, now PHP is behind, but there might be room for say WebML, Web AI or others?

• Operating on complex backend data

  say business data that has multiple parameters in it:

  $params ~ $base, $fee, $surge, $var1, $var2, $var3, $var4

  consider simple operations like addition without object overload:

  $result_base = $base_b + $base_a
  $result_fee = $fee_b + $fee_a
  $result_surge = $surge_b + $surge_a
  $result_var1 = $var1_b + $var1_a
  $result_var2 = $var2_b + $var2_a
  $result_var3 = $var3_b + $var3_a
  $result_var4 = $var4_b + $var4_a

  with overload, we can represent these as object and do this:

  $result = $a + $b

  done

  it still looks manageable with just two operand, but it becomes a nightmare with 3, would be almost unimaginable with this:

  $a + $b + $c + $d/$s - $e ** 10 + ($d - $r) / ($l ** $p)

  and almost impossible for nested operations

PHP Version

PHP 8.4.18 (cli) (built: Feb 13 2026 16:00:19) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Built by Debian
Zend Engine v4.4.18, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.4.18, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Operating System

No response

[devnexen]

operators overload brings also its own cans of worms in general (I m personally not against the concept but maybe not in languages such as PHP but I speak only for myself), also there had been an attempt in the past.