private/public class vars, functions

[Anon]

Does PHP have private and public class variables and functions? I want to break up a large function into a few smaller ones but I don't want the user of my class to be able to call the smaller functions.

Thanks,

Sonny

[Anon]

no, you can't specify a class function as private, protected, or public...they are all public.

I would recommend using a nameing scheme that shows a fuction is private and adding comments to the function that will also say it's private.

private_SomeFunctionName may be good because it shows you right away it's private but
pvt_SomeFunctionName stucks because pvt may not be read the same way by a different user.

[Anon]

Thanks..but what really sucks is PHPs support for classes. Pretty primitive at the current time I'd say.

[Anon]

yea, but it's not designed to be a OO language...the classes are more like function structures...and I think they are even handled in the same way as an assoc. array, but not positive.

Anyhow, I don't think it's a detriment to the language. Its initial design was a basic scripting language which is why everything is a function instead of a method and explains why the oo is not implemented the same way another language....but at least the oo parts are better than visbasic 🙂 but what part of the language isn't?

Tom

[Anon]

Heh, I guess. But, in the name of making it better, I think they should implement full object oriented support. A guy can dream, can't he? :-)

-Sonny

[Anon]

There was a large discussion on the problems with this on the php-dev list quite awhile ago. I don't follow the list anymore, but to implement private vars and functions the execution would be slowed down significantly due to arrays to keep track of what's private, public, etc.