Question

Is it good practice, or could it be, to force the user to use namespaces in a framework context?
I’m developing a framework (yes, I know, there’s no need of it because of those awesome framework already build; so there’s no need to point out that I’m reinventing the wheel for no reason; this is just for me; I need to be able to build a framework to be in peace with myself;) and I was wondering if forcing the user to use something like:

$post = new Model\Post($id); // for models
$html = new Library\Html(); // for library classes
$ajax = new Helper\Ajax(); // for helpers
# ... and so on

would be acceptable. I need of it to be able to use the autoloading function and automatically check in the right class folder (model/, library/, helper/ … and so on) by the namespace of the class.

Or should I just go with a generic $this referring to the parent controller class and load stuff like:

$post = $this->model('Post');
$html = $this->library('Html');
$ajax = $this->helper('Ajax');

If the latter, how should I manage the parameters that could be sent to the constructor of that class?

Answer 1

Use namespaces. PHP 5.2 is no longer actively supported and the 5.3 version is considered stable. Don’t write new code with the old methodologies unless you are attempting to support a legacy system.

Namespaces are definitely recommended and help out with a lot of problems, including the one you mentioned in regards to autoloading classes.