Classes

[David]

I know that this is a port but YaBBSE2 should really use classes.  That way if you want to change something it is easy to do so.  Just my thought an I am sure you are already planning on doing so.

[Greg Robson]

Yeah, don't worry - for YaBB SE 2 there will be some structural changes - although we haven't talked about classes much.

We want to make YaBB run faster with less code  

[Joseph Fung]

what makes you think classes are easier to change then procedures?

for SE 2 we're not going completely object-oriented, but where applicable they will be used.

[Michael]

what makes you think classes are easier to change then procedures?

Because they would centralize data access procedures and such. For example, rather than having to change a $variable = whatever; in a whole bunch of functions, you'd need only to change it in the one method. There's really no advantage to using "un-classed" functions over organizing everything in classes, that I can see in this case.

PHP isn't as advanced in its OOP implementation as other languages, but it still works well to keep some things safer, easier, and more organized.

[Greg Robson]

PHP isn't as advanced in its OOP implementation as other languages.

I'll vouch for that - mind you Java's so Object Orientated the simplest tasks are made tricky.

[Michael]

Teach you to use your classes, boy!

I haven't done much Java, Ima have to get to it sometime.

[Greg Robson]

It's very secure and strong - but very buearocratic in how it does suff:

instead of
print "some text";
you have to use
System.out.print("some text");

power comes at a price...

Mind you my advanced etch-a-sketch program (with colors and the ability to lift the pen) was quite good.

[Michael]

Yeah, but on the other hand, you don't need to get device handles like you do in C/C++, do you?

[Greg Robson]

No but we do have to use this:

BufferedReader myReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("file.txt"));

String aLine = myReader.readLine();

just to read a line from a text file!

But anyway lets not get into a C++/Java debate - I've heard both sides of the story at uni - we could be here discussing it until the end of time!  

[Shoeb Omar]

well.. u know public schools are going to change the lang they teach form c++ to java?

anywayz, i've worked with java before and it just confuses the hell out of me

[groundup]

i m learning c++ right now.. i have never even looked at java but c++ is not that hard.  It is much like php & perl (especially perl)

[Zef Hemel]

Because they would centralize data access procedures and such. For example, rather than having to change a $variable = whatever; in a whole bunch of functions, you'd need only to change it in the one method. There's really no advantage to using "un-classed" functions over organizing everything in classes, that I can see in this case.

Object orientation has nothing to do with using functions/procedures in a proper way, that could just as easy be accomplished without using OOP.

PHP isn't as advanced in its OOP implementation as other languages, but it still works well to keep some things safer, easier, and more organized.

Agreed.

[Zef Hemel]

At our university they use Java. Java is cool, in fact really cool, in fact the coolest language there is (although I like C# too).  It's clean, nearly all libraries that are available are written in Java itself and it's platform independent What more do you want. Anyway if you're into windows program and currently using C++ I'd definately give C# a try it's a very nice (Java like) language, with a bit more C++ aspects (operator overloading, structs and enums).

[Michael]

Object orientation has nothing to do with using functions/procedures in a proper way, that could just as easy be accomplished without using OOP.

In PHP's current state, yes. Once it's improved its data hiding/encapsulation abilities, it will be much more beneficial to use OOP, I think. In the meantime, why build for the old, the past? Why not build for the future? It's not like OOP is that big of a leap, it's just a little bit of new stuff for those who've never used it, but something worthwhile and not really that hard to learn.

As for C#, I've been reading about it, and it sounds cool, but I don't think I'm ready to jump into it or anything else right now, I'm still working on building my knowledge of developing Win32 apps in C++. Hopefully you'll see a few little fun things from me in the near future.

[Zef Hemel]

In PHP's current state, yes. Once it's improved its data hiding/encapsulation abilities, it will be much more beneficial to use OOP, I think. In the meantime, why build for the old, the past? Why not build for the future? It's not like OOP is that big of a leap, it's just a little bit of new stuff for those who've never used it, but something worthwhile and not really that hard to learn.

Agreed. Though over user is never good (by definition ) especially not in non-OO-by-default langauges like PHP. It doesn't mean we have to put EVERYTHING in objects, that would be of no use. Of course having an Member, Board, Topic, Message, Category objects would be good.