Question

Recently I have started to play around with Namespaces in PHP, I am not a fan of the chosen Namespace separator / (as most others have a mutual feeling) /

Below I have a very basic/simple example of using Namespace in PHP.

I have a Registry.class.php file that has a Registry class that is in the Namespace Library

I also have the file Controller.class.php below that has a Controller class that is in the Namespace called Project

Now in this Project Namespace I need access to the Registry object that is in a different Namespace, Library So I use use Library\Registry to Import that Namespace

With that done, I am able to simply access my Registry class like this…

$this->registry = new Registry;

Now if I had not used use Library\Registry then I would have to access it like this

$this->registry = new /Library/Registry;

---

So this is where my question begins.
For this simple example I am just bringing in the Registry class, in a real project, imagine several other classes and namespaces being brought in, So I would be using
use Library\Registry and use Library\SOME OTHER CLASS and use Library\YET ANOTHER CLASS etc…

I can then operate on the Objects/classes as if they were in this namespace to begin with so instead of pre-fixing the class name with its appropriate Namespace name, I simply just instantiate the class by its name ( new Registry;) instead of new /Library/Registry;

I would like to know if this is considered bad practice or not? It greatly simplify’s things and makes the code look cleaner IMO, but if there is anything bad about this method I would like to know before I write a lot of code using this method. Should I be pre-fixing my classes when I instantiate them with their namespace INSTEAD of importing them with the use /Path/to/Namespace/Classname ?

Please share your knowledge with me, I realize it will work either way but I want to make sure. Example classes and namespaces are added below:

Controller.class.php

<?php
namespace Project
{
    use Library\Registry;

    class Controller
    {
        public $registry;

        function __construct()
        {
            include('E:\Library\Registry.class.php');

            $this->registry = new Registry;
        }

        function show()
        {
            $this->registry;
            echo '<br>Registry was ran inside testcontroller.php<br>';
        }
    }
}
?>

---

Registry.class.php

<?php
// Registry.class.php
namespace Library
{
    class Registry
    {
        function __construct()
        {
            echo 'Registry.class.php Constructor was ran';
        }
    }
}
?>

Answer 1

One of the primary purposes of namespaces is to prevent name conflicts in large code bases and across shared code and imported libraries. If you’re not having name conflict issues, then I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with using each class. If you find yourself doing this for all your classes, however, then I would question why you’re using namespaces in the first place. This would only seem to make sense to me if your code was going to be used as an API or library by someone else.