The current OO implementation of ZE2 only allows dynamically binding of methods. That is all functions are inherited like if they were declared "virtual" in other languages.
The thing we do not have is static binding of methods. First one could argue that we do not have a type system and .... On the other hand there is a need for static binding since it allows us to declare functions that are *invariant* against inheritance. That is especially usefull for things like a standard class library (what ADT might become hopefully) or even your own standard class collection. Consider you defined a container (list, vector what ever) and want to derive from it. Then there is *really*no* need to override methods like "insert" or "remove". You may want to have additional things like "insert_if" or whatever. But for the container part "insert" must stay as it is and that requires static binding. And here comes "final" as it allows to emulate static binding with dynamic binding. If you declare a function "final" it is invariant against inhertance starting from that point in the inhertance tree. In other words it is even more powerfull than pure static binding and as a side effect it eliminates the problem that someone overrides erm redeclares a static bound function beeing inherited. A patch can be found here: http://marcus-boerger.de/php/ext/ze2/ regards marcus p.s.: It would be nice to reach a consensus here soon because i want to start another extension to the OO model - if you read between the lines you may guess but it'l have to wait... -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Marcus Börger - Looking for all sorts of freelance work - just ask... Did i help you? Consider a gift: http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/wishlist/ho722v0rg1u0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- PHP Development Mailing List <http://www.php.net/> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
