gwangjinkim/php-multidispatch

Simple and elegant multiple dispatch for PHP with hierarchy resolution.

v0.1.0 2025-07-01 23:32 UTC

Requires (Dev)

• phpunit/phpunit: ^12.2

MIT

• Gwang-Jin Kim

README

Multiple dispatch for PHP — scalar-aware, class hierarchy-sensitive, and elegant. Inspired by Julia and Common Lisp (CLOS).

Features

• ✅ Multiple dispatch on all arguments
• ✅ Supports scalar types (int, string, etc.)
• ✅ Resolves using class hierarchy
• ✅ Wildcard fallback ('*')
• ✅ Short syntax: $fn[['int', 'string']] = fn(...)
• ✅ Named functions via helper

Installation

composer require gwangjin/php-multidispatch

Usage

use function Multidispatch\multidispatch;

$fn = multidispatch();

$fn[['int', 'string']] = fn($a, $b) => "$a and $b";
$fn[['*', '*']] = fn($a, $b) => "default";

echo $fn(1, "hello");       // 1 and hello
echo $fn([], new stdClass); // default

Named Generics (Optional)

function greet() {
    static $g = null;
    return $g ??= multidispatch();
}

greet()[['string']] = fn($x) => "Hello $x!";
echo greet()("world"); // Hello world!

Run Tests

composer install
composer test

License

MIT © Gwang-Jin Kim