Re: iSeries, web development and perl

Kevin Schroeder skrev:

I am not saying I am _RIGHT_ or anything like that, just that that is - based on my Java experiences with Class.forName instead of using "new" - the large amount of work done by the compiler that makes the program resilient against casual changes.

If you are looking to dynamically create objects then there is a simple way to do it in PHP. I've not used Class.forName() but I think this does the same thing.

$class = 'User';
$userObj = new $class(); // Creates a new instance of User

No. It is the other way around I'm thinking. Class.forName given a name as a string gives me the corresponding Class object, which can then be used to do whatever, like creating objects and so on. Very powerful stuff reflection is. This is generally rarely used since the compiler cannot help you in any way (the string is first given at runtime), as opposed to just "new WhateverObject".

It looks like that is what you do too in your snippet. My argument is that by doing this, the compiler cannot help you, and your programs get more brittle which makes it easier to break if you need to do major maintainance.

By saying "new User()" in Java the compiler knows all about the User class and can complain if your code is broken.

Just to be certain - does the PHP _compiler_ know if you write "$userObj = new User()" that $userObj is a User and that only operations provided by the User class is allowed, or is this only checked by the runtime?

You can state the type for objects and arrays. You don't have to, but you can and should. I probably write my code in a more structured manner than a lot of PHP developers, but a good portion of them are really starting to take architecture seriously and building well defined class, interfaces and such... and actually FOLLOWING a defined architecture. PHP has a bit of a reputation as a fly-by-night language. Some of that is deserved but new applications are being built much better than even just 2 years ago. So, yes. I'm seeing a lot of new development following proper OO patterns, more or less.

Ok. So you are basically saying that you PRAY that the previous programmer did the program nicely :)

Praying is good - makes you think about what is important in life :D

I am as I said genuinely curious about this :)

Excellent! Curiosity kills only cats.

He he. You know http://thedailywtf.com/ ?