I was wondering if I should learn Object Oriented Programming.

I keep hearing people explain what it is, but I still don't get it. And I probably won't get your explanation, just a heads up.

Do PHP coders actually use this? I heard it was pretty hard.... also I was wondering if big sites use this also. All I remember is seeing a blog entry by an experienced coder and he was basically saying that it is harder than it looks.

I just don't understand the practicality of it all. Wondering if sites like digg.com or another really big site (like Yahoo answers) uses it. And, of course I mean with PHP.

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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.

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Jeremy Miller
Content Farmer - Optimized Automated Blog Posting

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At first, OOP may be very challenging and confusing for a beginner, but once you get the step and realize on how it works, it's going to be extremelly useful and makes your life easier

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