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Class based type hinting has already been available since 2004 with 5.0 [1] This release adds support for the general standard object type.

[1] http://php.net/manual/en/functions.arguments.php#functions.a...

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks

You can do this in methods by putting the class name before the argument.

Previously you could only specify class names and interfaces, now you can specify object (any object of any class, including StdClass). Mostly only a way to type hint "not array or any scalars". The class names has been around a while and is usually way more useful.

You can already type name your classes and even primitive type.

You don't have only "object".

I actually have a patch and draft RFC for a classname type declaration, but I'm not sure whether to do anything with it.