Why are configuration arrays acceptible parameters in PHP and Javascript?
- by RenderIn
In most other OO languages it would be sacrilege to have each function receive a single associative array of Objects rather than enumerating each in the method signature. Why is it acceptable and commonly used in most popular frameworks for both of these languages to do this?
Is there some justification beyond wishing to have concise method signatures?
I do see a benefit in this -- that the API could remain unchanged as new, optional parameters are added. But Javascript and PHP already allow for optional parameters in their method signatures. If anything, it seems like Java or another OO language would benefit from this more... and yet I rarely see this pattern there.
What gives?