I guess there may not be any difference but personal preference, but when reading various PHP code I come across both ways to access the methods class.
What is the difference:
class Myclass
{
public static $foo;
public static function myMethod ()
{
// between:
self::$foo;
// and
MyClass::$foo;
}
}
(Note: the initial version said there was no difference. Actually there is)
There is indeed a small diference. self::
forwards static calls, while className::
doesn't. This only matters for late static bindings in PHP 5.3+.
In static calls, PHP 5.3+ remembers the initially called class. Using className::
makes PHP "forget" this value (i.e., resets it to className
), while self::
preserves it. Consider:
<?php
class A {
static function foo() {
echo get_called_class();
}
}
class B extends A {
static function bar() {
self::foo();
}
static function baz() {
B::foo();
}
}
class C extends B {}
C::bar(); //C
C::baz(); //B
With self you can use it within the class and with the "MyClass", as you have, you can reference it externally:
$instance = new Myclass();
$variable = $instance::$foo