statically calling a method is faster than init'ing an object
then calling a method.
static methods (as opposed to functions in the global space) automatically
give a sort of namespacing, and a way to organise code (although that rather
cosmetic).
methods that are defined as static do not define $this in their
function scope, ever.
additionally classes in php5 can have static (therefore with class scope)
variables - which make static methods that much ore interesting as a
problem solving mechanism (imho) e.g.
<?php
class Test
{
static private $instance;
static function getInst()
{
if (!isset(self::$instance)) {
self::$instance = new self;
}
return self::$instance;
}
}
?>
oh look I just implemented a singleton pattern. a rather simple
example but maybe it gives you some ideas.
Mark Baldwin wrote:
Greetings all,
Does anyone know how static objects work behind the scenes in PHP5?
More specifically, is there a benefit to declaring an object and its
methods as static vs the more traditional OO way of instantiating an
object and then calling methods through the -> operator?
For example if I have:
class Example {
public static function doSomething() {
/* doing something here */
}
}
and
class Example {
private __construct() {
/* constructing here */
}
public function doSomething() {
/* doing something here */
}
}
Is it more/less/equally efficient for the engine and parser to do:
$result = Example::doSomething();
or
$example = new Example();
$result = $example->doSomething();
Thanks in advance,
Mark
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