Question

I have found that writing PHP code within classes can become rather long:

$this->parser->parse_syntax($this->get_language_path($this->language),
                                    $this->elements,
                                    $this->regex);

For example, in Java a class instance can call its methods by name without referencing this, is there a way to achieve shorter code in PHP without using this and self every time you have to read a value?

Answer 1

No, in PHP if you want to run object’s method or read/write property from inside of object you must write $this to refer that object instance.

PS. You can do at the beginning of each method something like this: $s = $this and use $s then, but it’s strongly unrecommended, you shouldn’t do that and it will be best, if you forget that you read this paragraph 🙂