[development] Open season for references

[Earl Miles]

Karoly Negyesi wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Let me declare open season for references. As they make it impossible to 
> use call_user_func_array and other cute tricks are also impossible, they 
> are a hinderance. I fail to see the benefit for us. Let's get rid of all.
> 
> Who wants to join me on the hunt?

No, I'm against this. Having to return objects all the time can be problematic. 
Sometimes references are the only reasonable way to do these things.

I realize they don't work well with func_get_args, which is unfortunate, but 
that's not a good reason to stop using references, IMO.