Objects

The object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigm has been around for many years now, although the degree to which it is support varies widely across languages. C++, for example, is object-oriented C, and, as some purists would say, implements more OOP functionality than even Java does.

Before PHP 5 came along, OOP support in PHP was quite flaky and more of a hack than a serious attempt. As a result the few that used it often regretted the choice, and it is not surprising that the whole system got a full rewrite in PHP 5 - it is now much more advanced and flexible, and should please just about everyone.

Topics covered in this chapter are:

• Objects and classes defined

• Class inheritance

• Access control

• Runtime type information

• Abstract and final properties and functions

• Constructors and destructors

• Magic functions

Chapter contents

1. 6.1. Conceptual overview
2. 6.2. Classes
1. 6.2.1. Defining a class
2. 6.2.2. How to design your class
3. 6.2.3. Basic inheritance
4. 6.2.4. Overriding functions
3. 6.3. Objects
4. 6.4. Variables
5. 6.5. The 'this' variable
6. 6.6. Objects within objects
7. 6.7. Access control modifiers
1. 6.7.1. Public
2. 6.7.2. Private
3. 6.7.3. Protected
4. 6.7.4. Final
5. 6.7.5. Abstract
6. 6.7.6. Iterating through object variables
8. 6.8. Object type information
9. 6.9. Class type hints
10. 6.10. Constructors and destructors
1. 6.10.1. Parent constructors
2. 6.10.2. Destructors
3. 6.10.3. Deleting objects
11. 6.11. Copying objects
12. 6.12. Comparing objects with == and ===
13. 6.13. Saving objects
14. 6.14. Magic functions
1. 6.14.1. __autoload()
2. 6.14.2. __get()
3. 6.14.3. __set()
4. 6.14.4. __call()
5. 6.14.5. __toString()
15. 6.15. Static data
16. 6.16. Helpful utility functions
17. 6.17. Interfaces
18. 6.18. Deferencing object return values
19. 6.19. The Object-Oriented Website
1. 6.19.1. A basic OOP site
2. 6.19.2. A more complex OOP website
20. 6.20. Summary
21. 6.21. Exercises
22. 6.22. Further reading
23. 6.23. Next chapter

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