Replace `is_a` calls in core with `instanceof`

[ayeshrajans]

Replaces all is_a function calls with instanceof keyword, which in theory should be faster, and provides more code clarity. The replacements use extra braces to enhance the clarity although they are technically not necessary.

Replaces all is_a function calls with instanceof keyword, which in theory should be faster, and provides more code clarity. The replacements use extra braces to enhance the clarity although they are technically not necessary.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58943#ticket

[SergeyBiryukov]

Hi there, thanks for the ticket!

Good call, this was previously done in [31188] / #25672, but apparently some new instances were added since then.

Replacing all instances of is_a to instanceOf

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58943

[rajinsharwar]

Replaced other instances of is_a function. Do we need to update the unit tests as well @SergeyBiryukov?

[ayeshrajans]

I wanted to note that the uses that PR #4938 by @rajinsharwar changes are more or less external libraries bundled with WordPress core.

[jrf]

I agree with @ayeshrajans, external libraries used by WP should not be fixed here (though a patch upstream might be an idea if the library is still externally maintained).

Re: use in tests - it should be considered if any such uses should be replaced with an assertInstanceof() assertion instead ? (not saying they should, just putting this out there as something to think about)

[jrf]

FYI: I've opened a ticket to at some point create a sniff to detect & flag this, so we can safeguard this pattern for the future: ​https://github.com/PHPCSStandards/PHPCSExtra/issues/260

We may want to open a ticket in WPCS about this as well.

[rajinsharwar]

Thanks for the suggestion @jrf @ayeshrajans. I reverted my change in the external libraries but kept the change for the http.php file (If I'm not mistaken, it's not an external library).

Thanks for the ticket in the PHPCSExtra repo, will follow on that.

[jrf]

@rajinsharwar I don't understand why you opened a second PR instead of allowing @ayeshrajans to add that one extra change to his (already open) PR ?

[rajinsharwar]

Sorry, I already had one opened so thought of modifying there. Closed my one. Over to you @ayeshrajans

[costdev]

Re: use in tests - it should be considered if any such uses should be replaced with an assertInstanceof() assertion instead ? (not saying they should, just putting this out there as something to think about)

I agree that we should consider this. Using descriptive assertions makes reading tests and failure messages much clearer.

Added ​one instance of missing is_a treatment taken from @Rajinsharwar's PR #4938.

Thank you @jrfnl @SergeyBiryukov @Rajinsharwar.

[mukesh27]

Thanks @ayeshrajans for ticket and PR.

The ​PR 4935 got two approval.

@SergeyBiryukov could you please take final review.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 56352:

Coding Standards: Use instanceof keyword instead of the is_a() function.

This is a micro-optimization that removes a few unnecessary function calls.

Follow-up to [31188], [34369], [38986], [41159], [43211], [43230], [44606], [45757].

Props ayeshrajans, jrf, rajinsharwar, costdev, mukesh27, SergeyBiryukov.
Fixes #58943.

Thanks for the PR! Merged in r56352.