Using __get() (magic) to emulate readonly properites and lazy-loading

Question

I\'m using __get() to make some of my properties \"dynamic\" (initialize them only when requested). These \"fake\" properties are stored inside a private array property, which I

Answer 1

Using __get() is said to be a performance hit. Therefore, if your list of parameters is static/fixed and not terribly long, it would be better performance-wise to make methods for each and skip __get(). For example:

public function someobject() {
    if(!($this->props[$name] instanceof Someobject))
        $this->props[$name] = new Someobject;
        // do stuff to initialize someobject
    }
    if (count($argv = func_get_args())) {
        // do stuff to SET someobject from $a[0]
    }
    return $this->props['someobject'];
}

To avoid the magic methods, you'd have to alter the way you use it like this

$bar = $foo->someobject; // this won't work without __get()
$bar = $foo->someobject(); // use this instead

$foo->someobject($bar); // this is how you would set without __set()

EDIT

Edit, as Alex pointed out, the performance hit is millisecond small. You can try both ways and do some benchmarks, or just go with __get since it's not likely to have a significant impact on your application.