ah, grasshopper, welcome to classes!
the -> operator is used by class objects. there is a piece of php functionality that lets you construct code 'objects' that have what they call 'methods' and 'properties'. You should read this page:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop.constructor.php
basically, there is some file in this project where the user has defined a class. find the line that says
$ascii_math = new Something_or_Other;
and Something_or_Other is the class he has defined.
the -> operator is calling up either a PROPERTY or a METHOD (and possibly an EVENT...not sure if PHP supports those yet) of the class Something_or_other which are defined in the code somewhere.
the basic idea is that those PROPERTIES or METHODS only make sense when used on that particular class.
I think the classic analogy is something like this:
class circle{
var $radius
function circle($init_radius){
echo 'Creating a circle of radius ' . $init_radius;
$this->radius = $init_radius;
}
function area() {
return 3.14159 * $this->radius *$this->radius;
}
} // end circle class constructor
EDIT: you might want to search your code for the word 'class' and you will probably find where he has defined the class of which $ascii_math is an instance. OR, you can find the line where $ascii_math gets defined and see if it says $ascii_math = new XXXX; if it does, you can search your code for XXXX and that should be the class.
HTH
