Re: OOP Design Question

On Sunday 20 December 2009 1:08:46 pm you wrote: > >> Maybe this would be the perfect opportunity for the php autoload > >> functions...? > >> > >> Thanks for your help/thoughts/comments, > >> dK > >> ` > > > > Yep, this is a textbook case for a proper autoload setup. And no, > > cramming all of the functionality into one mega class won't get you any > > efficiency. In fact, it would be just as wasteful as loading all 60 > > classes even when you're only going to use 2; you're still loading up > > roughly the same amount of code. Parsing it as one mega class or one big > > parent with a few small child classes is about a break-even as far as > > performance goes, but the mega class is much poorer architecture. > > Thanks for your insight. > > I could probably setup autoloading, but I wonder if I would do it > 'properly'. Do you have a link or reference that you'd recommend for > howto do a 'proper autoload setup'? > > Thanks, > dK Well, there is no universal agreement on what a "proper" setup is. :-) There is a group trying to establish a Java-like standard for all projects to use once they get to PHP 5.3 and namespaces, but there are still issues to work out and IMO it's not actually a good approach for many use cases. I'd argue that "proper" depends in a large part on your specific use case. The most important aspect of a good autoload mechanism, though, is that it's fast and extensible. Use spl_autoload_register() instead of __autoload(), and make sure that you keep the runtime of your autoload callbacks to an absolute minimum. (A DB hit per autoload, for instance, is a no-no.) Beyond that, varies with your project. -- Larry Garfield larry@garfieldtech.com