Nested classes in PHP?

[Joshua Beall]

Hi All,

I remember reading that both nested classes and namespaces would be
available in PHP5. I know that namespaces got canceled (much sadness...),
however, I *thought* that nested classes were still an option.

However, I am coming up dry looking for information on how to do this, and
the most recent references I am able to find to nested classes in PHP are
dated 2003. And they all say the same thing: sorry, can't do that.

So, it's not possible? Is that the end of the matter?

Any suggestions for attempting to implement namespaces in PHP5? Some sort
of hack or workaround?

Thanks for any thoughts.

-jb

[Andy Hassall]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 22:21:16 GMT, "Joshua Beall"
<jb****@donotsp am.remove.me.he raldic.us> wrote:

I remember reading that both nested classes and namespaces would be
available in PHP5. I know that namespaces got canceled (much sadness...),
however, I *thought* that nested classes were still an option.

No, they got the chop too.

http://cvs.php.net/co.php/ZendEngine2/ChangeLog?r=1.622
Search for "nested class" on that page - there's an entry for zend.c stating
"Nested classes are gone."

--
Andy Hassall / <an**@andyh.co. uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk >
<http://www.andyhsoftwa re.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage analysis tool

[Chung Leong]

"Joshua Beall" <jb****@donotsp am.remove.me.he raldic.us> wrote in message
news:w9WHd.2425 $Hg6.2404@trndd c09...

Hi All,

I remember reading that both nested classes and namespaces would be
available in PHP5. I know that namespaces got canceled (much sadness...),
however, I *thought* that nested classes were still an option.

However, I am coming up dry looking for information on how to do this, and
the most recent references I am able to find to nested classes in PHP are
dated 2003. And they all say the same thing: sorry, can't do that.

So, it's not possible? Is that the end of the matter?

Any suggestions for attempting to implement namespaces in PHP5? Some sort
of hack or workaround?

Thanks for any thoughts.

-jb

The workaround is to use an underscore.

[Tony Marston]

What on earth is so special about a nested class? If you can include() a
class definition from within a class, then instantiate it, is that not good
enough?

--
Tony Marston

http://www.tonymarston.net

"Joshua Beall" <jb****@donotsp am.remove.me.he raldic.us> wrote in message
news:w9WHd.2425 $Hg6.2404@trndd c09...

Hi All,

I remember reading that both nested classes and namespaces would be
available in PHP5. I know that namespaces got canceled (much sadness...),
however, I *thought* that nested classes were still an option.

However, I am coming up dry looking for information on how to do this, and
the most recent references I am able to find to nested classes in PHP are
dated 2003. And they all say the same thing: sorry, can't do that.

So, it's not possible? Is that the end of the matter?

Any suggestions for attempting to implement namespaces in PHP5? Some sort
of hack or workaround?

Thanks for any thoughts.

-jb

[Chris Newey]

Hi,

Using $_SESSION with a sub array would give you a a namespace.

With regard to obects within objects then it indicates a design problem.
Declaring an object within an object can be done, but the way to do it is
by defining an object as a class in itself and then allowing the container
class to have an array of objects.

Pseudo code
class (I am a invoice header class) {

class property (I am an array containing 0->n detail line objects)
}

class (I am an invoice detail line class) {

}



On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 22:21:16 +0000, Joshua Beall wrote:

Hi All,

I remember reading that both nested classes and namespaces would be
available in PHP5. I know that namespaces got canceled (much sadness...),
however, I *thought* that nested classes were still an option.

However, I am coming up dry looking for information on how to do this, and
the most recent references I am able to find to nested classes in PHP are
dated 2003. And they all say the same thing: sorry, can't do that.

So, it's not possible? Is that the end of the matter?

Any suggestions for attempting to implement namespaces in PHP5? Some sort
of hack or workaround?

Thanks for any thoughts.

-jb

[Joshua Beall]

"Tony Marston" <to**@NOSPAM.de mon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cs******** ***********@new s.demon.co.uk.. .

What on earth is so special about a nested class? If you can include() a
class definition from within a class, then instantiate it, is that not
good enough?

--
Tony Marston

Sometimes you have a class that has no meaning/usefulness outside of it's
context in a parent class. Thus, it is polluting the global namespace with
information that will never be used (outside of that one specific class) to
define it in the global namespace.

Of course in most PHP apps this is not a problem because you don't have a
massive number of classes... but it would be nice to have nested classes or
namespaces.

-jb

[Tony Marston]

"Joshua Beall" <jb****@donotsp am.remove.me.he raldic.us> wrote in message
news:SO8Id.5740 $J6.3455@trnddc 02...

"Tony Marston" <to**@NOSPAM.de mon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cs******** ***********@new s.demon.co.uk.. .

What on earth is so special about a nested class? If you can include() a
class definition from within a class, then instantiate it, is that not
good enough?

--
Tony Marston
Sometimes you have a class that has no meaning/usefulness outside of it's
context in a parent class. Thus, it is polluting the global namespace
with information that will never be used (outside of that one specific
class) to define it in the global namespace.

I disagree that this is any kind of an issue. You may have a single class
definition, but none of the properties or methods of that class will clash
with anything else, so there is no problem.
Of course in most PHP apps this is not a problem because you don't have a
massive number of classes...
It does not matter how many classes you have in your entire application.
Each HTTP request is for a single page, therefore you need only load those
classes which are sufficient to satisfy that single request.
but it would be nice to have nested classes or namespaces.

The benefit of nested classes is not worth the effort. It is the same for
namespaces. I have programmed in languages for the past 25+ years without
ever using namespaces, so their lack of appearance in PHP is not a problem
for me. Exactly what problem do they solve, if any?

--
Tony Marston

http://www.tonymarston.net

[Joshua Beall]

"Tony Marston" <to**@NOSPAM.de mon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cs******** ***********@new s.demon.co.uk.. .

but it would be nice to have nested classes or namespaces.

The benefit of nested classes is not worth the effort. It is the same for
namespaces. I have programmed in languages for the past 25+ years without
ever using namespaces, so their lack of appearance in PHP is not a problem
for me. Exactly what problem do they solve, if any?

Problem? I'm not sure they solve any sort real problem... But they make it
neater for a human being to look at your code and see what things are
grouped together.

[tslettebo]

>"Chris Newey" <newey...@hotma il.com>

Using $_SESSION with a sub array would give you a a namespace.
?
With regard to obects within objects then it indicates a design problem. Declaring an object within an object can be done, but the way to do it is by defining an object as a class in itself and then allowing the container class to have an array of objects.

I'm new to this group (I work with PHP, but my background is mostly
C++, Java, etc.), and this is the first thread I read in this group,
and either the terminology used in "PHP land" is rather different from
what I'm used to (not that likely, we subscribe to "PHP Architect", as
well), or there seems to be some confusion of class and object, here.

OP asked for the possibility of defining a class within another class
(a nested class). If that nested class is only available to the
enclosing class, then there wouldn't be a need for a new syntax for
accessing it from the outside (as in "new outer::inner(.. .)").

Having a nested class doesn't mean nesting objects inside of each
other: that's a misunderstandin g. It's simply an issue of scope: the
inner class might only be accessible to the enclosing class.

Secondly, this is not indicative of a design error, and to the contrary
may be good design, as, as OP said, it avoids polluting the global
namespace with classes that are only used locally. For example, if you
have a container class, then the iterator might be a nested class of
it, as the container is the only class needing to be able to
instantiate it.

Thirdly, if you really meant nesting objects, rather than nesting
classes, then do you really mean that having an object with instance
variables (nested objects) indicates a design error? That's nonsense.
Regards,

Terje

[Joshua Beall]

<ts*******@hotm ail.com> wrote in message
news:11******** **************@ c13g2000cwb.goo glegroups.com.. .

OP asked for the possibility of defining a class within another class
(a nested class). If that nested class is only available to the
enclosing class, then there wouldn't be a need for a new syntax for
accessing it from the outside (as in "new outer::inner(.. .)").

Glad there's somebody around here who doesn't think I'm nuts!

My background is C++ with a tiny bit of Java, too. Probably affects my
thinking on this matter.