Mastering PHP 7

The prototype pattern

The prototype pattern is about creating new objects by means of cloning them. This is quite a concept, as we are no longer using the new keyword to create new objects. The PHP language provides a special clone keyword to assist with object cloning.

The following example demonstrates a possible prototype pattern implementation:

<?phpclass Logger{    public $channel = 'N/A';}class SystemLogger extends Logger{    public function __construct()    {        $this->channel = 'STDIN';    }    public function log($data)    {        return sprintf('Logging %s to %s.', $data, $this->channel);    }    public function __clone()    {        /* additional changes for (after)clone behavior? */    }}// Client use$systemLogger = new SystemLogger();echo $systemLogger->log('test');$logger ...