Question

I am tossing up two ways of using variables in a method within a class. Some methods have up to 20 variables used. Which example is satisfy OOP progamming structures the best and why

**Example 1:**

$sampleclass->variable1 = 100;
$sampleclass->variable2 = 200;
$sampleclass->variable3 = 300;

$row = $sampleclass->Method();

--------------------------

class sampleclass {

  public function Method(){
    if ($this->variable1) {
         // do something
    }
     if ($this->variable2) {
         // do something
    }
     if ($this->variable3) {
         // do something
    }

  }
}



============================================

**Example 2:**

$row = $sampleclass->Method(100,200.300);


class sampleclass {

  public function Method($variable1, $variable2, $variable3){

  }
}

Answer 1

TL;DR : neither.

---

If you have 3 different executions based on 3 different conditions, then should have separate method for each of them. The resulting API should be something like something like:

$instance->someMethod( 100 );
$instance->differntMethod( 200 );
$instance->thirdMethod( 300 );
$result = $instance->produceResult();

The object are supposed to hold state. You have 3 different methods, which alter that state. And one method which returns data. No if statements required.

To learn a bit more about the subject, I would recommend you to watch this and this lecture.