A pre-RFC discussion on the PHP internals mailing list proposes adding scalar object methods to PHP, allowing calls like `$str->trim()` or `(3)->pow(2)` directly on scalar values. The approach dispatches only on receivers the compiler can guarantee are scalar at compile time, rewriting method calls to ordinary static calls into internal backing classes with zero new opcodes and negligible performance overhead. The proposal includes two independent votes: scalar methods on guaranteed receivers, and optionally typed local variables. Community responses raise objections including that compile-time-only dispatch covers very little real-world code (cross-file autoloading breaks it), that hiding backing classes from static analysis tools is problematic, and that a curated method set is bikeshed bait. Larry Garfield counters that extension functions (à la Kotlin/C#) would be a superior approach.
