[Coding Standards] Loading all files at once

The proposed coding standard states:

Loading all files at once PEAR2/PackageName/allfiles.php is the "load all classes at once for easy startup and opcode caches friendliness" so that, for instance, the file might contain: <?php // note the lack of dependency on include_path - essential for beginners if (!class_exists(PEAR2_Exception)) {

      class PEAR2_Exception extends Exception {}

} require dirname(__FILE__) . '/Base.php'; require dirname(__FILE__) . '/Exception.php'; require dirname(__FILE__) . '/Drivers/Common.php'; require dirname(__FILE__) . '/Drivers/Simple.php'; require dirname(__FILE__) . '/Drivers/Fancy.php'; ?>

I don't think this should be a *requirement* at all. I agree that developers who *want* to provide this kind of functionality should abide by a standard way of doing it, but making it a requirement for each package seems like overkill to me (esp. for very large packages with adapters and plugin systems, like Text_Wiki and MDB2). I have heard the "it makes things easier for opcode caches" argument, but I don't find it especially strong. This seems very much like a "recipe" or "practice" candidate to me, not a coding standard by which package acceptance or denial will be judged. -- Paul M. Jones <http://paul-m-jones.com> Solar: Simple Object Library and Application Repository for PHP5. <http://solarphp.com> Join the Solar community wiki! <http://solarphp.org> Savant: The simple, elegant, and powerful solution for templates in PHP. <http://phpsavant.com>