haXe/PHP

haXe/PHP is an extended version of the haXe compiler with a new platform target: PHP of course.

Why haXe/PHP? One of the biggest concerns in using haXe as a language for the server-side development is that you probably must install new software on the web-server (Apache mod_neko or some kind of JavaScript engine). This is not an option on many “cheap” (and not so cheap) hosting services while PHP is almost globally available.

• Windows version
• Mac OS X (universal DMG)

The files contain a full haXe installation with the standard libraries modified to work with PHP. It does not contain Neko and the documentation.

Unzip in a folder of choice and execute haxesetup.exe. To revert to the standard haXe installation, locate the original installation folder and execute the haxesetup.exe from there.

Run the downloaded installer and enjoy. This version also contains the documentation.

The zip below contains the OCaml files needed to build haXe/PHP and its standard library.

haXe/PHP source code

You can grab the source code here: http://caffeine-hx.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

• important parts of the std library to implement: SPOD, Remoting, haxe.Template
• Input/Output will be not implemented because they will probably change a lot with haXe 2.0.
• php.Web is still incomplete
• String and Array are used as native values and are not encapsulated in objects. This makes the PHP code prettier and faster but as a drawback you can encounter inconveniences when those types are used as Dynamic (ex: Reflection).
• resources are not implemented
• function can't have the same name of the containing class (case insensitive). The problem is that PHP interprets that as a constructor.
• Some constructs will not work properly:
  • a[b].c();
  • a.b()[c];
  • (new MyClass).execute();

• Typedef extensions for Objects
• Typedef extensions for Classes
• a.b().c()
• _ _resolve
• _ _setfield
• internal redefine function: f() { this.f = function() { }; return this.f();

• Std.string must output nicer values
• check if properties with full accessors are created as var; if so, remove
• build equivalent classes to the neko ones
• test Reflection with Anonymous objects
• _ _break_ _ is not used properly
• break does not compile in while loops
• Resolve the Known Limitations where possible
• Fix bugs!

• Debug version (similar to JS -debug) + haxe.Stack
• better error handling
• nicer PHP output (strip unnecessary {}, better indentation, docs ? …)
• _ _set/_ _get/_ _call must be marked as reserved words when used in Dynamic
• implementing autoload for class files