NYCPHP Meetup

[Scott Mattocks]

Hello,

I have a question about constructor visibility in extended classes. Take 
a look at this example:

<?php
class Goo {

   public $stuff = '';

   // Note the protected constructor.
   protected function __construct($stuff)
   {
     $this->stuff = $stuff;
   }

   public function printStuff()
   {
     echo $this->stuff . "\n";
   }
}

class Foo extends Goo {

   public static function getGoo($stuff)
   {
     return new Goo($stuff);
   }
}

$goo = Foo::getGoo('test stuff');
$goo->printStuff();

// This throws a fatal error as I would expect.
//$goo2 = new Goo('goo too');
?>

The subclass is allowed to call new Goo() even though the constructor is 
declared protected. I understand that the constructor is visible to the 
subclass and what not but something just seems off about this. I would 
expect $this->__construct() to work fine but that has a whole different 
effect. In my understanding the new operator is a public action even if 
it is called within an extended class. Is this behavior expected? I want 
to take advantage of this, but if it is going to be changed in a future 
release I can't really depend on it.

Thanks,
-- 
Scott Mattocks
scott at crisscott.com
http://www.crisscott.com