4 Main assumption of the model is that the problem that we are to solve is the
5 problem of the very long class names in PHP libraries. We would not attempt
6 to take autoloader's job or create packaging model - only make names
9 Namespaces are defined the following way:
11 Zend/DB/Connection.php:
22 Namespace definition does the following:
23 All class and function names inside are automatically prefixed with
24 namespace name. Inside namespace, local name always takes precedence over
25 global name. Several files may be using the same namespace.
26 The namespace declaration statement must be the very first statement in
27 the file. The only exception is "declare" statement that can be used before.
29 Every class and function in a namespace can be referred to by the full name
30 - e.g. Zend\DB\Connection or Zend\DB\connect - at any time.
33 require 'Zend/Db/Connection.php';
34 $x = new Zend\DB\Connection;
38 Namespace or class name can be imported:
41 require 'Zend/Db/Connection.php';
43 use Zend\DB\Connection as DbConnection;
45 $x = new Zend\DB\Connection();
46 $y = new DB\connection();
47 $z = new DbConnection();
51 The use statement only defines name aliasing. It may create name alias for
52 namespace or class. The simple form of statement "use A\B\C\D;" is
53 equivalent to "use A\B\C\D as D;". The use statement can be used at any
54 time in the global scope (not inside function/class) and takes effect from
55 the point of definition down to the end of file. It is recommended however to
56 place the use statements at the beginning of the file. The use statements have
57 effect only on the file where they appear.
59 The special "empty" namespace (\ prefix) is useful as explicit global
60 namespace qualification. All class and function names started from \
61 interpreted as global.
66 $con = \mysql_connect(...);
69 A special constant __NAMESPACE__ contains the name of the current namespace.
70 It can be used to construct fully-qualified names to pass them as callbacks.
78 set_error_handler(__NAMESPACE__ . "\foo");
81 In global namespace __NAMESPACE__ constant has the value of empty string.
83 Names inside namespace are resolved according to the following rules:
85 1) all qualified names are translated during compilation according to
86 current import rules. So if we have "use A\B\C" and then "C\D\e()"
87 it is translated to "A\B\C\D\e()".
88 2) unqualified class names translated during compilation according to
89 current import rules. So if we have "use A\B\C" and then "new C()" it
90 is translated to "new A\B\C()".
91 3) inside namespace, calls to unqualified functions that are defined in
92 current namespace (and are known at the time the call is parsed) are
93 interpreted as calls to these namespace functions.
94 4) inside namespace, calls to unqualified functions that are not defined
95 in current namespace are resolved at run-time. The call to function foo()
96 inside namespace (A\B) first tries to find and call function from current
97 namespace A\B\foo() and if it doesn't exist PHP tries to call internal
98 function foo(). Note that using foo() inside namespace you can call only
99 internal PHP functions, however using \foo() you are able to call any
100 function from the global namespace.
101 5) unqualified class names are resolved at run-time. E.q. "new Exception()"
102 first tries to use (and autoload) class from current namespace and in case
103 of failure uses internal PHP class. Note that using "new A" in namespace
104 you can only create class from this namespace or internal PHP class, however
105 using "new \A" you are able to create any class from the global namespace.
106 6) Calls to qualified functions are resolved at run-time. Call to
107 A\B\foo() first tries to call function foo() from namespace A\B, then
108 it tries to find class A\B (__autoload() it if necessary) and call its
110 7) qualified class names are interpreted as class from corresponding
111 namespace. So "new A\B\C()" refers to class C from namespace A\B.
117 foo(); // first tries to call "foo" defined in namespace "A"
118 // then calls internal function "foo"
119 \foo(); // calls function "foo" defined in global scope
124 new B(); // first tries to create object of class "B" defined in namespace "A"
125 // then creates object of internal class "B"
126 new \B(); // creates object of class "B" defined in global scope
131 new A(); // first tries to create object of class "A" from namespace "A" (A\A)
132 // then creates object of internal class "A"
137 B\foo(); // first tries to call function "foo" from namespace "A\B"
138 // then calls method "foo" of internal class "B"
139 \B\foo(); // first tries to call function "foo" from namespace "B"
140 // then calls method "foo" of class "B" from global scope
143 The worst case if class name conflicts with namespace name
146 A\foo(); // first tries to call function "foo" from namespace "A\A"
147 // then tries to call method "foo" of class "A" from namespace "A"
148 // then tries to call function "foo" from namespace "A"
149 // then calls method "foo" of internal class "A"
150 \A\foo(); // first tries to call function "foo" from namespace "A"
151 // then calls method "foo" of class "A" from global scope
157 * Support for namespace constants?
159 * performance problems
160 - calls to internal functions in namespaces are slower, because PHP first
161 looks for such function in current namespace
162 - calls to static methods are slower, because PHP first tries to look
163 for corresponding function in namespace
165 * Extend the Reflection API?
166 * Add ReflectionNamespace class
171 * Add getNamespace() methods to ReflectionClass and ReflectionFunction
173 * Rename namespaces to packages?