Add a T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM to fix PHP code

When the errors are designed to confuse you.
By
Published ~ 2 minutes read

Imagine working for 12 hours straight, without talking any break. You build modules, tools, and your to do list keeps getting shorter and shorter. You don't want to stop because you are in the zone. Your mojo is up the roof. But suddenly you get this Error:

PHP expects T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM

First I thought maybe my PHP version was hacked, so I stopped. I started thinking, maybe I have just worked too much and am seeing non-sense now. Maybe a short-circuit in my brain?

I fixed a few other errors then shut down for the night.

The next day, the error was no where to be found. I couldn't replicate it and couldn't remember the exact wording to google it. Was it a dream? or Brain damage? I thought I was the only one who ever encountered this problem.

Months went by before I encountered this error again. When it happened, I was more excited seeing it then fixing my code. I pinpointed the exact line that caused it and took some notes.

I wasn't crazy. PHP was indeed expecting T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM. WTF?

What it really means is 'double colon' ::. The double colon in PHP and many other languages is used for scope resolution. So I was missing the double colon and PHP was kindly reminding me. Except it did so in Hebrew.

In newer versions of PHP (5.4+) the error was updated to:

Syntax error, unexpected '::' (T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM)

At least now it is a little more clarified. I understand that it might have been added as a joke, and it was funny. But I can't imagine if I was struggling to fix a bug and I couldn't find any documentation to what this meant. Errors are feedback, and if they can't give you any insight of what they mean, they might as well not exist.

At least now, no matter what the language or code we see in our errors, we have the luxury of googling it and find a nice answer on stackoverflow.

Resource:

On a related note, here are some interesting articles.

SQL injection and how to protect your website

SQL injection and how to protect your website

Experienced developers are expensive. In a world where cutting cost seems like the best option, companies try to maximize their profit by spending less and less on good talent. It is much cheaper to hire someone who just learned php a few weeks ago then a seasoned developer. But it becomes a very bad investment when the newbie introduces insecure code. The problem is, a lot of things learned from those LAMP CRUD application tutorial do not focus much on security. When this code is introduced to a commercial application, the damage can be very expensive. I like how stackoverflow users are fighting very hard to eradicate SQL injection, I am doing my part too but it seems like it is much easier to find insecure code on-line. That said, I will attempt to scare you off your feet so you know better what is the cost of SQL injection.

Abstracting MySql results in PHP

Abstracting MySql results in PHP

If there is one thing a web server does everyday it iss connecting to the database. I have been using PHP for many years now, but if you ask me to write a script to fetch data from the database I couldn't do it without going back to the Ultimate PHP manual to find a few examples first.

Why is php turning my string into 0

Why is php turning my string into 0

One thing I am learning the hard way is, if you don't write it down you will forget it. I always think I will remember my thoughts. But nope. The next day, my mind is blank and I am frustrated. So there is an simple issue I ran into in MySQL and PHP and I am making sure I writing down this time before I forget it.

View all articles

Comments

There are no comments added yet.

Let's hear your thoughts

For my eyes only