Re: disallow non-static method calls with self/static in PHP 7

On 12 Oct 2014, at 16:37, Robert Stoll <php@tutteli.ch> wrote: > Hey, > > > > I just stumbled over a method call of a non-static method with self and was asking myself > again, why does PHP support > this behaviour. An example to outline what I am writing of: > > > > class A{ > > function foo(){ > > self::bar(); > > } > > function bar(){} > > } > > > > IMO it should not be allowed to call non-static methods with self or static. Sure, it is just a > small detail but for > someone who starts learning PHP it is an unnecessary supplement. The use of self::, static:: (or parent:: for that matter) itself doesn’t make a method call static; it’s the declaration or caller context that makes it behave statically, i.e. $this can’t be used. In your given example, $this is defined when A::bar() is called; interestingly, when this class is extended it will still only call A::bar() as opposed to calling $this->bar(). Whether this is useful behaviour is irrelevant :) The use of static::bar() is kind of pointless, because AFAICT there’s no difference between that and $this->bar() in this particular example. > > Maybe it is too drastic to disallow it in PHP 7 but yeah. I would like to know what you think > about it and if someone > has a good reason why it is allowed nowadays then please help me out. > > > > Cheers, > > Robert >