CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpoptimizationphp-7.4
pgee70
pgee70

Reputation: 3984

will strictly defining class variables in php 7.4 be faster?

in php 7.4, i can now define class property types: So instead of:

class A{
  /** @var string */
  protected $string;
}

i can now do:

class A{
  protected string $string;
}

so, is it worthwhile to do this? ie, is it worth recoding my code base to use this feature?

is there a performance boost?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 334

Answers (1)

Dharman
Dharman

Reputation: 33238

It's not about performance, typed properties are meant to enforce type contracts in your code. It's difficult to say if there is any performance difference, whether positive or negative, but the performance should not be the reason why you should specify types.

You already use PHPDoc comments, which means that it is important for you to know what type the property should be, but PHPDoc block does not enforce it. This code is perfectly valid:

<?php

class A {
    /** @var int */
    public $number;
}

$a = new A();
$a->number = 'a';
echo $a->number;

With typed properties, you tell PHP runtime to check the type before assignment or usage. PHP will not allow type mismatch. This code will throw an error:

<?php

class A {
    public int $number;
}

$a = new A();
$a->number = 'a';
echo $a->number;

Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot assign string to property A::$int of type int

Upvotes: 1

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