| It really depends on your usage. When programming for PHP 4, I don't usually use objects. When programming for PHP 5, I do. I have studied OOP in college, however, so I have formal training which provides a stronger background (in most cases). Objects can be very, very challenging. It really depends on your goal with the code you're working on, who else will be viewing and working with the code, and which you prefer.
IMO more and more PHP written for PHP 5 will be object oriented so you do risk falling behind being able to competently read code from others if you don't learn at least the basics of it.
That said, learning OOP is worth learning properly. Those who don't create extremely hard to read garbage which ultimately ought to be wholly rewritten. You stand less a chance of that with procedural programming as a lot gets stuck in functions, but even that's subject to the spaghetti code syndrome.
In short, it's worth learning but only if you plan on learning it well. Even if you decide to stick with procedural programming, you should familiarize yourself with the concepts behind OOP in order to be able to work with others' code. |