PHP 5 Power Programming

3.6. Accessing Methods and Properties Using the $this Variable

During the execution of an object's method, a special variable called $this is automatically defined, which denotes a reference to the object itself. By using this variable and the -> notation, the object's methods and properties can be further referenced. For example, you can access the $name property by using $this->name (note that you don't use a $ before the name of the property). An object's methods can be accessed in the same way; for example, from inside one of person's methods, you could call getName() by writing $this->getName().

3.6.1. public, protected, and private Properties

A key paradigm in OOP is encapsulation and access protection of object properties (also referred ...