The lust has nothing to do with the syntax and everything to do with the functionality. Namespaces are long overdue in PHP (how has it taken so long)?
This is going to make developing larger scale projects (and projects that mix and match 3rd-party libraries) very different than pre-5.3
The initial uproar over the backslash failed to provide any commentary on the underlying implementation. I regret conflating the syntax with the implementation because the implementation is rock solid. The syntax, with a little practice, winds up feeling more natural than you'd think (or perhaps feel comfortable admitting :)
Though I agree with you, I'd argue that namespaces took so long due to the fact that (as you state in your post) PHP is the most widely used scripting language today.
Like all widely used languages it evolves more slowly than those with smaller or niche communities. The PHP devs focus has clearly been stability and integrating the most widely used extensions into the core.
As you yourself said, "so goes the life of a language whose design is driven by demand and not theory."
This is going to make developing larger scale projects (and projects that mix and match 3rd-party libraries) very different than pre-5.3
The initial uproar over the backslash failed to provide any commentary on the underlying implementation. I regret conflating the syntax with the implementation because the implementation is rock solid. The syntax, with a little practice, winds up feeling more natural than you'd think (or perhaps feel comfortable admitting :)