Class inheritance in PHP 5.2: Overriding static variable in extension class?

Question

I need to bea be able to use a static variable set in a class that extends a base class... from the base class.

Consider this:

class Animal {
    public          


        

Answer 1

In PHP 5.3+, the following would be preferred:

class Animal {
    public static $color = 'black';

    public static function get_color()
    {
        return static::$color; // Here comes Late Static Bindings
    }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
    public static $color = 'brown';
}

echo Animal::get_color(); // prints 'black'
echo Dog::get_color(); // prints 'brown'

Late Static Bindings (PHP.net)