Doc #63832 [Com]: Doc don't fully cover constructor inheritance

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=63832&edit=1 ID: 63832 Comment by: mail+php at requinix dot net Reported by: jschoett at gmail dot com Summary: Doc don't fully cover constructor inheritance Status: Open Type: Documentation Problem Package: Documentation problem Operating System: Doc problem PHP Version: 5.4.10 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: It's not so much that the child would inherit the constructor as it would inherit the parent's "__construct" method (if it's public or protected). There's a subtle difference there: the constructor is not ipso facto special that way, it's just that PHP looks for a method with that name. Considering the importance of a constructor and how it's used I think it's worth mentioning that it obeys the normal method inheritance rules. Did you know you can submit changes to the online documentation? Look for the edit link in the top-right corner of manual pages. "oop5.decon: spelling out that ctors and dtors can be inherited (bug #63832)" http://edit.php.net/?patchID=796&project=PHP Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-01-01 00:08:01] mail+php at requinix dot net It's not so much that the child would inherit the constructor as it would inherit the parent's "__construct" method (if it's public or protected). There's a subtle difference there: the constructor is not ipso facto special that way, it's just that PHP looks for a method with that name. Considering the importance of a constructor and how it's used I think it's worth mentioning that it obeys the normal method inheritance rules. Did you know you can submit changes to the online documentation? Look for the edit link in the top-right corner of manual pages. "oop5.decon: spelling out that ctors and dtors can be inherited (bug #63832)" http://edit.php.net/?patchID=796&project=PHP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-27 09:17:24] jschoett at gmail dot com just title adapted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-21 21:03:37] jschoett at gmail dot com Description: ------------ --- From manual page: http://www.php.net/language.oop5.decon --- I can not find a definite statement on this: "The child class inherits the constructor of the base class, iff the child class does not explicitly define an own constructor." The documentation do not cover this with: "Note: Parent constructors are not called implicitly if the child class defines a constructor" In addition, since this is an significant difference to e.g. Java, it should be documented Test script: --------------- Snippet to validate this statement (I know you already know the result): <?php class A { private $x = null; function __construct($x) { $this->x = $x; } } class B extends A { } $b1 = new B(); // Warning: Missing argument 1 for A::__construct() $b2 = new B(1); var_dump($b1); // Notice: Undefined variable: x var_dump($b2); ?> Expected result: ---------------- Same as actual, but I wan't it to be documented :) Actual result: -------------- Warning: Missing argument 1 for A::__construct(), called in path\testoutput.php on line 28 and defined in path\testoutput.php on line 21 Notice: Undefined variable: x in path\testoutput.php on line 22 object(B)#1 (1) { ["x":"A":private]=> NULL } object(B)#2 (1) { ["x":"A":private]=> int(1) } ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=63832&edit=1