Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On 13-09-04 09:06 PM, Micky Hulse wrote: Hi Rodrigo, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Rodrigo Santos rodrigos.santo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, first, sorry for the bad English. Not bad at all! Very clear and well written reply (heck, it's better than my native English writing), so thank you! :) Yes, at least, as far as I know, this is the perfect way to do what you want to do. Think like this: when you instanciate a class, you are allocating memory. If you don't need any information stored, then you don't need to allocate memory, right? So, it's is logic to have a class that you will call only one fragment when you need it, rather than load the entire class just for one method. Interesting! That makes a lot of sense. Now you've piqued my interests! :) I was going to head down a different path, but you've inspired me to further explore the use of static methods/properties/variables/other. A part of me just wants to learn more about PHP OOP, and using static members is something I've not explored much. Seems like a simple functional utility class would be a good time to play and learn more. :D Just be careful to organize your utility methods by by meaning. Don't put a method that make dating stuff and a method that write a random string in the same class. By doing so, you are breaking the object orientation purpose. Excellent tip! Thank you Rodrigo! I really appreciate the tips/advice and inspiration. :) I'll second Rodrigo's opinion, but would like to comment that the name of the class is misleading since it's called Singleton. The singleton pattern is used when you only ever want one instantiation of a class. In your case you are using static methods, the object never needs to be instantiated and so it doesn't fit this pattern. What you are creating is far more consistent with the utility pattern. Cheers, Rob. -- E-Mail Disclaimer: Information contained in this message and any attached documents is considered confidential and legally protected. This message is intended solely for the addressee(s). Disclosure, copying, and distribution are prohibited unless authorized. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:07 PM, Robert Cummings rob...@interjinn.com wrote: I'll second Rodrigo's opinion, but would like to comment that the name of the class is misleading since it's called Singleton. The singleton pattern is used when you only ever want one instantiation of a class. In your case you are using static methods, the object never needs to be instantiated and so it doesn't fit this pattern. What you are creating is far more consistent with the utility pattern. Ahhh, thanks so much for the clarification and details! That's very helpful. I've updated my gist to reflect the pattern name: https://gist.github.com/mhulse/6441525 Much appreciated. :) -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 12:15 PM, Robert Cummings rob...@interjinn.com wrote: Probably sufficient (and easier for typing) to just call it Utility since it follows the pattern but isn't the pattern itself :) Good call! Updated the example code. Thanks again! I really appreciate the help. :) Cheers, Micky -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On 13-09-05 02:27 PM, Micky Hulse wrote: On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:07 PM, Robert Cummings rob...@interjinn.com wrote: I'll second Rodrigo's opinion, but would like to comment that the name of the class is misleading since it's called Singleton. The singleton pattern is used when you only ever want one instantiation of a class. In your case you are using static methods, the object never needs to be instantiated and so it doesn't fit this pattern. What you are creating is far more consistent with the utility pattern. Ahhh, thanks so much for the clarification and details! That's very helpful. I've updated my gist to reflect the pattern name: https://gist.github.com/mhulse/6441525 Much appreciated. :) Probably sufficient (and easier for typing) to just call it Utility since it follows the pattern but isn't the pattern itself :) Cheers, Rob. -- E-Mail Disclaimer: Information contained in this message and any attached documents is considered confidential and legally protected. This message is intended solely for the addressee(s). Disclosure, copying, and distribution are prohibited unless authorized. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
[PHP] Static utility class?
Hi all! Example code: https://gist.github.com/mhulse/6441525 Goal: I want to have a utility class that contain utility methods which should have the option of being called multiple times on a page. I think my main goal is to avoid having to new things ... I don't really need to create an instance here (there's no need for a constructor in this case). Question: Is the above simple pattern a good way to have a class that calls static methods? To put it another way, is there any reason why I would not want to use the above code? Basically I want to wrap these simple functions in a nice class wrapper and have the ability to call them without having to jump through more hoops than is necessary. Are there any pitfalls to writing a class like this? Or, is this the standard way of writing a simple utility class for this type of situation? Please let me know if I need to clarify my questions. Thanks for your time?
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On 13-09-04 03:25 PM, Micky Hulse wrote: I want to have a utility class that contain utility methods which should have the option of being called multiple times on a page. This sounds simply like a library of functions that are implemented using objects. You can use the standard require_once in your various PHP source files so you only deal with loading the library file in the first file in which it is needed. It would not be loaded from other files. Instantiate your static variables in the library file. Again, so that only happens once. -- Stephen -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 12:25 PM, Micky Hulse mickyhulse.li...@gmail.comwrote: I want to have a utility class that contain utility methods which should have the option of being called multiple times on a page. ... To put it another way, is there any reason why I would not want to use the above code? The main problem caused by static methods is testability. Mocking or stubbing a static method requires using a PHP extension and ensuring that the original is reset whether the test passes or fails. As long as your utility methods don't perform actions you want to avoid during tests, this is fine. Good examples for a utility class are string-processing functions such as parsing and formatting, trimming and/or normalizing empty string to null, etc. You want tests to work against these methods directly since there's no need to avoid the work. You'll want to avoid static methods whenever you want to be able to fix the behavior (stubbing) to test scenarios in the class under test. An example is anything hitting a database or external service. In order to test that your downloader sends the correct warning email to the sysadmin when a REST call fails, you need to be able to force the REST call to fail. This is easy to do when you plug in an instance implementing the API because you can give it an implementation/mock that fails for all calls. I can't say if what you're thinking of will make a good utility class since the code you posted is fake. If you post some examples of methods you want to make static, we can give you pointers on which are good candidates and which are best left to instance methods. Peace, David
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
Thank you so much for the quick and very informative/educational replies Stephen and David, I really appreciate it! :) On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 12:36 PM, Stephen stephe...@rogers.com wrote: This sounds simply like a library of functions that are implemented using objects. Instantiate your static variables in the library file. Again, so that only happens once. functions implemented using objects sounds like exactly what I want. Just out of curiosity, and sorry in advance for my ignorance, but does the code I posted fit that type of pattern? If not, what would I need to modify and how would I call it? Actually, I should probably spend some time Googling before I ask you for more details. :D On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 1:15 PM, David Harkness davi...@highgearmedia.com wrote: I can't say if what you're thinking of will make a good utility class since the code you posted is fake. If you post some examples of methods you want to make static, we can give you pointers on which are good candidates and which are best left to instance methods. Sorry about the fake code. To be honest, I have not written the code just yet ... I'm kinda wanting to find the perfect pattern before I get too far down the rabbit hole (though, this is for some simple utility functions, so refactoring things should be easy later on). I'll be sure to post real code for any follow up questions. For now, thanks to you guys, I have a ton to work with. Thanks again for the pro advice! Cheers, M -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
On 13-09-04 05:09 PM, Micky Hulse wrote: Thank you so much for the quick and very informative/educational replies Stephen and David, I really appreciate it! :) On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 12:36 PM, Stephen stephe...@rogers.com wrote: This sounds simply like a library of functions that are implemented using objects. Instantiate your static variables in the library file. Again, so that only happens once. functions implemented using objects sounds like exactly what I want. Just out of curiosity, and sorry in advance for my ignorance, but does the code I posted fit that type of pattern? If not, what would I need to modify and how would I call it? Actually, I should probably spend some time Googling before I ask you for more details. :D Well, your code does not take advantage of the features of classes, but the syntax is correct. Global, static variables are not consistent with the design concepts of OOP. But as a first step in moving from procedural code to OOP, which is learning the syntax, go for it. -- Stephen -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
Thanks Stephen! I really appreciate the help! :) In my PHP ventures over the years, I haven't made much use of static variables/methods/properties ... I was thinking they might be useful for this one bit of code, but based on your feedback (and David's) I think I'll be heading down a different path. Thanks again for the kick in the right direction! Much appreciated! Cheers, Micky -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
Hi, first, sorry for the bad English. Yes, at least, as far as I know, this is the perfect way to do what you want to do. Think like this: when you instanciate a class, you are allocating memory. If you don't need any information stored, then you don't need to allocate memory, right? So, it's is logic to have a class that you will call only one fragment when you need it, rather than load the entire class just for one method. Just be careful to organize your utility methods by by meaning. Don't put a method that make dating stuff and a method that write a random string in the same class. By doing so, you are breaking the object orientation purpose. 2013/9/4 Micky Hulse mickyhulse.li...@gmail.com Hi all! Example code: https://gist.github.com/mhulse/6441525 Goal: I want to have a utility class that contain utility methods which should have the option of being called multiple times on a page. I think my main goal is to avoid having to new things ... I don't really need to create an instance here (there's no need for a constructor in this case). Question: Is the above simple pattern a good way to have a class that calls static methods? To put it another way, is there any reason why I would not want to use the above code? Basically I want to wrap these simple functions in a nice class wrapper and have the ability to call them without having to jump through more hoops than is necessary. Are there any pitfalls to writing a class like this? Or, is this the standard way of writing a simple utility class for this type of situation? Please let me know if I need to clarify my questions. Thanks for your time?
Re: [PHP] Static utility class?
Hi Rodrigo, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Rodrigo Santos rodrigos.santo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, first, sorry for the bad English. Not bad at all! Very clear and well written reply (heck, it's better than my native English writing), so thank you! :) Yes, at least, as far as I know, this is the perfect way to do what you want to do. Think like this: when you instanciate a class, you are allocating memory. If you don't need any information stored, then you don't need to allocate memory, right? So, it's is logic to have a class that you will call only one fragment when you need it, rather than load the entire class just for one method. Interesting! That makes a lot of sense. Now you've piqued my interests! :) I was going to head down a different path, but you've inspired me to further explore the use of static methods/properties/variables/other. A part of me just wants to learn more about PHP OOP, and using static members is something I've not explored much. Seems like a simple functional utility class would be a good time to play and learn more. :D Just be careful to organize your utility methods by by meaning. Don't put a method that make dating stuff and a method that write a random string in the same class. By doing so, you are breaking the object orientation purpose. Excellent tip! Thank you Rodrigo! I really appreciate the tips/advice and inspiration. :) Have a great afternoon! Cheers, Micky -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
