PHP OOP Basics

Object-Oriented Programming organises code into classes (blueprints) and objects (instances).

Key Concepts

Class — template/blueprint
Object — instance of a class
Properties — data
Methods — functions
Constructor — __construct()

Visibility

public — accessible anywhere
protected — accessible in class and subclasses
private — accessible only in the class itself

Example

<?php
class User {
    private string $name;
    private string $email;

    public function __construct(string $name, string $email) {
        $this->name  = $name;
        $this->email = $email;
    }

    public function getName(): string { return $this->name; }
    public function getEmail(): string { return $this->email; }

    public function greet(): string {
        return "Hello, I am {$this->name}!";
    }
}

$user = new User("Alice", "alice@example.com");
echo $user->getName();   // Alice
echo $user->greet();     // Hello, I am Alice!
?>

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