Yes, it is true you don't need to use it, and I won't be using it, but I still fail to see how using the Zend_Registry class and design pattern makes the code any more legible, or elegant for that matter.
Anyway, enough said. I do understand trading performance for simplicity of code and maintenance, but IMHO, this is not one of those things (View helpers on the other hand do simplify your code). Clearly some people prefer to add useless layers to make stuff appear 'elegant' :) Regards, Kendall Bennett, CEO A Main Hobbies 424 Otterson Drive, Suite 160 Chico, CA 95928 1-800-705-2215 (Toll-Free) 1-530-894-0797 (Int'l & Local) 1-530-894-9049 (Fax) http://www.amainhobbies.com From: Andrea Turso <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 16:24:27 -0700 To: Zend Framework General <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [fw-general] Zend_Registry a waste of CPU resources? Hi Kendall I see your point but honestly I find it rather pointless, Zend Framework doesn't compel you to use the Zend Registry for storing objects for global usage. If you think that using a global variable is better, why don't just use it? It depends on the context you are working in, some people prefer performances over code legibility and others prefer elegant code over performances it's just a matter. For me it's a good way to work with elegance and legibility in mind and fine-tune the code where bottlenecks appears after profiling the application. Regards Andrea Turso On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 1:19 AM, Andrea Turso <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Kendall I see your point but honestly I find it rather pointless, > Zend Framework doesn't compel you to use the Zend Registry for > storing objects for global usage. > If you think that using a global variable is better, why don't just use it? > > It depends on the context you are working in, some people prefer performances > over code legibility and others prefer elegant code over performances > it's just a matter. > For me it's a good way to work with elegance and legibility in mind > and fine-tune > the code where bottlenecks appears after profiling the application. > > Regards > Andrea Turso > > 2009/5/3 Kendall Bennett <[email protected]>: >> Sure, but I still fail to see how Zend_Registry makes development any >> faster? It is just a glorified version of the $GLOBALS super global, and if >> you look at the meat of it, it is syntactically similar to using the >> $GLOBALS super global. >> >> $my_var = Zend_Registry::get('my_global'); >> >> and >> >> $my_var = $GLOBALS['my_global']; >> >> Are really not very different. Except one takes a WHOLE lot more CPU cycles >> at runtime. >> >> My point is that PHP has already mostly solved the global variable problem >> by making it such that globals are NOT by default a part of the normal >> variable scope when inside functions and class methods. >> >> Regards, >> >> Kendall Bennett, CEO >> A Main Hobbies >> 424 Otterson Drive, Suite 160 >> Chico, CA 95928 >> 1-800-705-2215 (Toll-Free) >> 1-530-894-0797 (Int'l & Local) >> 1-530-894-9049 (Fax) >> http://www.amainhobbies.com >> >> >> >> From: Christopher Östlund <[email protected]> >> Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 15:01:01 -0700 >> Cc: Zend Framework General <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [fw-general] Zend_Registry a waste of CPU resources? >> >> There is a lot of overhead in using a framework, with the gain of fast >> development. >> >> On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 10:34 PM, Kendall Bennett <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> Ok, I have been going through the paces learning Zend Framework and the >>> pieces involved, and sometime it seems like design patterns are used when >>> they end up just creating lots of overhead, for zero gain. >>> >>> Consider the Zend_Registry class, and the registry design pattern it is >>> implementing. For starters, accessing methods in the registry class is not >>> exactly free. There is a lot of overhead involved in getting into the >>> registry class and finding the information needed, way more overhead than >>> just accessing a global variable. >>> >>> Now, I am sure we all agree that global variables are a bad thing, >>> especially global variables that are accessible everywhere. To me, that is >>> what the registry design pattern is intended to solve, but PHP does NOT have >>> this problem. Global variables in PHP are only accessible from code running >>> in the global space, not from within functions or from within methods. At >>> least not unless you specifically declare a variable as Oglobal¹. So once >>> you are inside a function, or inside a class method, none of the globals in >>> the global space are actually in scope, so it is not possible to >>> accidentally change the globals or use them out of context (which is the >>> danger of globals in languages like C and C++). >>> >>> In all our PHP code we prefer to use the $GLOBALS super global to access >>> global variables, rather than using the global declaration, as it makes it >>> clear you are accessing a global variable. So we would use this: >>> >>> function set_global() >>> { >>> $GLOBALS['my_global'] = 'fun_stuff'; >>> } >>> >>> function use_global() >>> { >>> $use_global = $GLOBALS['my_global']; >>> } >>> >>> rather than this: >>> >>> function set_global() >>> { >>> global $my_global; >>> $my_global = 'fun_stuff'; >>> } >>> >>> function use_global() >>> { >>> global $my_global; >>> $use_global = $my_global; >>> } >>> >>> Now. In both of these cases, the global variables are NOT by default in the >>> scope of the function that uses them, and in the context of a framework like >>> Zend Framework, nothing runs in the global space anyway, except the very >>> first index.php file that boostraps everything. >>> >>> So, according to the Registry design pattern modeled by Zend_Registry, we >>> should do this instead: >>> >>> function set_global() >>> { >>> $my_global = Zend_Registry::set('my_global','fun_stuff'); >>> } >>> >>> function use_global() >>> { >>> $use_global = Zend_Registry::get('my_global'); >>> } >>> >>> Now clearly this is not all that much different to my first example above >>> that uses the super global $GLOBALS. In fact, using the $GLOBALS variable is >>> less typing, just as clear and more importantly, has ZERO overhead to using >>> it. Unlike the Zend_Registry::get() function that executes quite a lot of >>> code just to get a global variable. >>> >>> So after examining this some more, it seems to me both a waste of typing and >>> waste of CPU resources to use the Zend_Registry class, when you can just as >>> easily reach for the $GLOBALS super global variable for the very few >>> instances where you do need access to global information. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Kendall Bennett, CEO >>> A Main Hobbies >>> 424 Otterson Drive, Suite 160 >>> Chico, CA 95928 >>> 1-800-705-2215 (Toll-Free) >>> 1-530-894-0797 (Int'l & Local) >>> 1-530-894-9049 (Fax) >>> http://www.amainhobbies.com >>> >> >> >> >> >
