Re: Classes - Dumb question

On 10/12/07, Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.com> wrote: > > On Thursday 11 October 2007, Jay Blanchard wrote: > > [snip] > > okay, this is really (!) embarassing, but I have to ask: > > > > Why would I want to use classes in PHP? > > > > I have been using PHP for years now and writing the "normal" functions > all > > the time. I have never even bothered working with classes, but now I > would > > love to know what makes the classes so special... > > > > Please go easy on me ;o) Just trying to make another step :o) > > [/snip] > > > > Do not be embarrassed, this is a very good question. > > > > First of all what you call "normal" is procedural or functional > > programming. There is nothing wrong with doing things this way and may > be > > especially quick and efficient when doing basic web sites and > applications. > > Document well and you will have no problem maintaining your code. > > One correction. What is being described is procedural or imperative > programming. Functional programming is another beast entirely (closures, > first-class functions, immutable variables, etc.). PHP is not a > functional > language by any stretch of the imagination. For functional programming, > see > Erlang, Haskel, ML, LISP, and to a lesser extent Javascript. > > That's not a knock against PHP, mind you; I'm just pointing out that > functional programming is something different than what you are > describing. > It's a common point of confusion because in a procedural language > (traditional PHP, C, etc.) you do everything with functions, so "it's > functional". The difference is that a function is not a base data type, > which is a key component of a functional language. an aspect that makes working with javascript rather interesting. i get my fill of it there and enjoy php for what it is; and because its more familiar to me ;) -nathan