Zooley

Strings and quotes

The easiest way to specify a simple string is to enclose it in single quotes (the character ').

To specify a literal single quote, you will need to escape it with a backslash (\), like in many other languages. If a backslash needs to occur before a single quote or at the end of the string, you need to double it. Note that if you try to escape any other character, the backslash will also be printed! So usually there is no need to escape the backslash itself.

References

When working with PHP, it's not uncommon to see ampersands (&) scattered throughout the code, like so:

$db =& $this->db;

// or ...

function foo( &$var ) 
{
	$var++;
}

But what does it all mean? This is passing by reference. References in PHP are a means to access the same variable content by different names. Note that in PHP, variable name and variable content are different, so the same content can have different names. Passing by reference is done with the reference operator, &

Scope Resolution Operator (::)

Sometimes it is useful to refer to functions and variables in base classes or to refer to functions in classes that have not yet any instances. The :: operator is being used for this.

class A 
{
	function example() 
	{
		echo "I am the function example() in the class A";
	}
}

// There is no object of class A.
// This will print
//   I am the function example() in the class A
A::example();

The legend of Buca di Beppo involves a covert meeting of key developers in a Mafia-style restaurant in the United States. 'Bucas' has on more than one occasion been the catalyst for key (and in some cases considered insurmountable) development 'humps' being overcome.

With copius amounts of food and wine flowing, the creative juices of coders seem to work keener, faster, and problems are solved. Louis Landry famously agreed that living near a Bucas could actually lead to faster development cycles.

Mmmm. A restaurant with photos of famous Mafia films like The Godfather and violin cases leaning against the booths. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

If Joomla! was a commercial venture, we're sure management would actually consider building a Bucas inside the building!

Masterchief meet Bugsy Landry.