Why use __construct();

[unemployment]

I found this tide bit of code in my lib files.  Why use a __contruct()

 

     

  
        // Sets the username and password if given.
public function __construct($user = null, $pass = null){
	parent::__construct();

	if ($user !== null && $pass !== null){
		$this->youtube_user	= $user;
		$this->youtube_pass	= $pass;
	}
}

[xyph]

Why not?

[PFMaBiSmAd]

From the php.net OOP documentation -

Classes which have a constructor method call this method on each newly-created object, so it is suitable for any initialization that the object may need before it is used.

[unemployment]

From the php.net OOP documentation -

Classes which have a constructor method call this method on each newly-created object, so it is suitable for any initialization that the object may need before it is used.

 

So my understanding of this is... that it is used to initialize the rest of the class?  With reference to this example, if you don't have the user name and password, then you can't use the rest of the class, right?

[xyph]

No, $user and $pass have default values, so they don't HAVE to be called.

 

Whether other methods in that class need those values, I have no idea.

[AyKay47]

as  PFMaBiSmAd stated, using __construct allows you to do any sort of initializing of properties etc. without actually have to call a function.

It is triggered by the creation of a new object

In your case, its sets the properties $user and $pass for use inside of the class