procedural PHP and variable scope

squibs

This is more a general programming question, but it's a problem I'm having more in php than other languages. When I started with php I wrote everything in one huge block of code. Now I've switched to functions wherever possible, but moving variables around is such a pain.

My options seem to be
1) Pass by reference - this is what I've been doing, but I find that a block of code which is a logical unit can require 10 or 20 parameters - many of which will need to be altered.

2) Global variables - I've heard that a kitten is killed every time I use a global variable

3) Bundle up my variables in objects - I'm not really convinced that OOP works well in small to medium PHP apps.

What do you guys use? This is becoming a big issue for me as I scale up my apps.

NogDog

A few random thoughts in no particular order...

I avoid using "global" in my functions at all costs. I'm a dog person, but I don't like seeing kittens needlessly killed. 😉

If you find yourself needing to pass more than a few parameters to a given function, it may be time to ask yourself if that function is trying to do too many things and should instead be broken up into two or more functions.

If you have several related variables and multiple functions associated with them, this is almost crying out to be assembled into a class.

For values that truly make sense to be global in scope, if the they are static then define() them as constants, in which case they will then automatically be global in scope. If they are variable, consider using the $GLOBALS super-global array.

Similar to the preceding, you can define class constants and/or static variables that are easily accessed from anywhere in your application, e.g. ClassName::$staticVariablename.

squibs

Hi NogDog and thanks for the advice. I'm curently reworking the script I'm working on at the moment and making it OOP. I suspect it'll take a heck of a lot more time, but I think the code will read better and be more maintainable. Thanks for pushing over the edge OOPwise!

NogDog

Goo luck. I think the more you use OOP and get used to it, the more you'll find yourself wondering why you ever thought it would make things more difficult.