whats this empty class for?

[xeelee]

<?php

/ define a generic object /
class boop {};

//create new object from class boop
$obj = new boop;

$obj->dbhost = "localhost";

/ connect to the database /
db_connect($obj->dbhost);

?>

why would any one create an empty class like this?
actually this a short example from a more complex site...

i can;t figure out wats the purpose of an empty class boop...

any idea wats the advantage of doing this?

[ahundiak]

It's basically being used as a simple array.
Some people prefer:
$obj->dbhost;
to
$obj['dbhost'];

The difference will become more important in php5. In php5, objects will be passed to functions as references while arrays will continue to be passed by copy. This will tend to make objects be more efficient than arrays in some cases.

[xeelee]

wow...thanks ahundiak!

never crossed my mind...

think its a good practice to use huh 😃