__get() and array rumors

There've been lots of rumors about overloaded array properties lately.

The following code

<?php
class funky {
  private $p = array();
  function __get($p) {
    return $this->p;
  }
}
$o = new funky;
$o->prop["key"] = 1;
?>

Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded property funky::$p has no effect

As arrays are the only complex types that are passed by value (resources don't really count here) the solution to described problem is simple: use an object; either an instance of stdClass or ArrayObject will do well, depending if you want to use array index notation.

So the folloiwng code will work as expected, because the ArrayObject instance will pe passed by handle:

<?php
class smarty {
  private $p;
  function __construct() {
    $this->p = new ArrayObject;
  }
  function __get($p) {
    return $this->p;
  }
}
$o = new smarty;
$o->prop["key"] = 1;
?>

I guess most of you already knew, but anyway...