Syntax question: OO vs. Procedural

[KevinM1]

While visiting the PHP.net site after following a link from one of the other posts here, I found something that highlights something that confuses me regarding the language.  The function in question isn't of importance (mysqli_stmt_prepare), but the examples are:

OO style of using the function:
[code]
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "world");

/* check connection */
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
  exit();
}

$city = "Amersfoort";

/* create a prepared statement */
$stmt =  $mysqli->stmt_init();
if ($stmt->prepare("SELECT District FROM City WHERE Name=?")) {

  /* bind parameters for markers */
  $stmt->bind_param("s", $city);

  /* execute query */
  $stmt->execute();

  /* bind result variables */
  $stmt->bind_result($district);

  /* fetch value */
  $stmt->fetch();

  printf("%s is in district %s\n", $city, $district);

  /* close statement */
  $stmt->close();
}

/* close connection */
$mysqli->close();
?>
[/code]

Procedural style of using the function:
[code]
<?php
$link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "world");

/* check connection */
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
  exit();
}

$city = "Amersfoort";

/* create a prepared statement */
$stmt = mysqli_stmt_init($link);
if ($stmt = mysqli_stmt_prepare($stmt, "SELECT District FROM City WHERE Name=?")) {

  /* bind parameters for markers */
  mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "s", $city);

  /* execute query */
  mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);

  /* bind result variables */
  mysqli_stmt_bind_result($stmt, $district);

  /* fetch value */
  mysqli_stmt_fetch($stmt);

  printf("%s is in district %s\n", $city, $district);

  /* close statement */
  mysqli_stmt_close($stmt);
}

/* close connection */
mysqli_close($link);
?>
[/code]

Is the 'arrow' notation used in the first example always just representative of a truncated function name?  Could I do something like the following?
[code]
<?php

$dbc = $mysql -> connect($username, $host, $password);
$db = $mysql -> select_db('dbname', $dbc);

?>
[/code]

[trq]

[quote]Is the 'arrow' notation used in the first example always just representative of a truncated function name?[/quote]

No. In the example mysqli is an object, not a function.

[KevinM1]

[quote author=thorpe link=topic=114011.msg463682#msg463682 date=1162829305]
[quote]Is the 'arrow' notation used in the first example always just representative of a truncated function name?[/quote]

No. In the example mysqli is an object, not a function.
[/quote]

There doesn't seem to be much difference, though.  I mean, there are two ways to initialize it:
[code]
<?php

$stmt =  $mysqli->stmt_init(); //the OO way

$stmt = mysqli_stmt_init($link); //the procedural way

?>
[/code]

The former uses an object...is there a mysql object where it could be used in the way I theorized in my last post (code repeated below)?

[code]
<?php

$dbc = $mysql -> connect($username, $host, $password);
$db = $mysql -> select_db('dbname', $dbc);

?>
[/code]