I've thought about allowing [] for a while and personally have come up with my own litmus test for new features.

1) is the syntax missing from the language? 2) if so, does the syntax add missing functionality or significant maintenance benefit? 2) if not, does the new syntax add significant value?

#1 no, array() is the same [-1] #2 not applicable [0] #3 [-.5] * can't google [] * makes arrays simpler to type and take up less space * adds potential for confusion between array access and creation:

$a['hi']; $a;['hi'];

both are now suddenly valid PHP

* syncs with javascript and other languages * opens pandoras box - PHP is simpler than Perl because there are not 20 ways of doing the same thing with different punctuation shorthands

So I find #1 is -1, #2 is 0, #3 is about -.5

Although the idea is somewhat attractive, I've found no drawbacks to array() syntax, and plenty of dangers with adding any new alternate syntax, and this ultimately makes my vote -1