Question

The following code isn’t valid in PHP 5.3

class DatabaseConfiguration {

    public $development = array("user" => "dev");

    public $production = array("user" => "prod");

    public $default =& $this->development;

}

It seems that $default can only be initialized with a compile-time constant. Is it stated in any php doc? Can $default be initialized like this without relying on the constructor?

Answer 1

From the PHP documentation:

This declaration may include an initialization, but this
initialization must be a constant value–that is, it must be able to
be evaluated at compile time and must not depend on run-time
information in order to be evaluated.