__get in libraries

If you look at /core/Model.php, you'll see very similar code:

PHP Code:

public function __get($key)
{
    return get_instance()->$key;
} 


Of course, whether this is a good idea for your library really depends on what you are doing in your library and how you expect it to be used. If you look through CI's libraries, you'll find that it, or something like it, is used in some libraries, but not others. In many cases, there are additional checks within the method to ensure different things occur based on what is being requested.

CI_Model is extended by developers using CI, so that's a convenience method for them - it would be a pain in the ass not to have it.

In a library however, the author writes it once and everybody else just calls the class methods, so that shortcut doesn't make much sense - only the author would benefit.

The bottom line is, it's up to the author ... if you're a lazy coder and fewer characters is all you care about, then you'll probably go for it. If you care about performance and code that's more expressive and makes more sense, then you wouldn't.