Home » Development » Clean up your toolbox with PHP traits …
Single inheritance has often been the limitation for PHP. This means that a class can only inherit from one other class. Often classes share the same methods and it would be beneficial to allow reuse and prevent duplication.
In PHP 5.4 a new feature was added, known as Traits. A Trait is like a Mixin, allowing to use / mix classes into existing classes. This means code reduction and less duplication.
Example of a Trait
This trait can than be used in other classes:
Both classes can now use the Shareable trait.
The benefit is less code duplication. The drawback is, that not all used methods are visible within the source-code of the class. So before moving a method to a trait, make sure that you will actually reuse it ;)
I have been restructuring huge amounts of code over the past months and traits are helping to keep things far more organized.
In combination with __autoload its a real nice way to cleanup your code toolbox.
Happy coding Alex
Alexander Gräf
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I am a full-stack developer. My expertise include:
I love programming, design and know my way around server architecture as well. I would never feel complete, with one of these missing.
I have a broad range of interests, that’s why I constantly dive into new technologies and expand my knowledge where ever required. Technologies are evolving fast and I enjoy using the latest.
Apart from that, I am a peace loving guy who tries to have people around him that think the same. I truly believe in the principle: “If you help someone, someone will help you, when you need it."