I may be missing something about how the PHP compiler/interpreter works, but I don't quite understand why this is apparently feasible to implement:
class BlogPostRepository extends BaseRepository<BlogPost> { ... }
$repo = new BlogPostRepository();
$repo = new Repository<BlogPost>();
(As long as you don't allow the generic parameter to be dynamic / unknown at compile time, of course.)
The former merely exposes a `BlogPostRepository` class. The latter requires some mechanism for creating a generic object of concrete type, which is a lot bigger change to the implementation. Does each parametrized generic type have its own implementation? Or does each object have sufficient RTTI to dynamically dispatch? And what are the implications for module API data structures? Etc. In other words, this limitation avoids tremendously disruptive implementation impacts. Not pretty, but we're talking PHP here anyway. ;-)
The shift key on my HP28C died last year. I never used the advanced features (eg the entire left-hand keypad), but loved its effectively infinite stack, and haven't been able to go back to an HP42, HP35s or the like since.
I'm now using Plus42 on my phone with the big stack option, but would love to have a physical calculator again.