Objects: Why are they useful?

[eluser]Edemilson Lima[/eluser]
Upcoming changes in PHP 6.0: (from http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/ian_gi...51206.php3)

PHP 6.0 looks to be an exciting release. Nothing is absolutely fixed yet, but it looks like it will see the demise of three of my pet peeves: register_globals, magic_quotes_gpc and safe_mode. The first was just a big security hole, the second messed with the data and made changing environments potentially nightmarish, while the third was a misnomer that nobody really understood, and provided a false sense of security. There's also quite a lot of work scheduled to do with Unicode. Here are some of the changes:

* The register_globals, safe_mode and the various magic quotes options will be removed.
* The ereg extension is removed, while the XMLReader, XMLWriter and Fileinfo extensions are added to the core, and by default are on.
* Another addition I find particularly exciting is that APC (Alternative PHP Cache) will be added to the core, though will be off by default. APC can provide serious performance benefits.
* All E_STRICT messages will be merged into E_ALL, another positive change that will encourage good programming practice.
* ASP style <% tags will no longer be supported.
* Addition of a new 64-bit integers. The current integer type remains as is, 32 or 64-bit dependent on the platform.
* Use of foreach with multi-dimensional arrays, for example foreach($array as $k => list($a, $b)).
* A new switch in php.ini will allow you to disable Unicode semantics (by default they will be on).
* There will also be various string improvements related to Unicode.
* The microtime() function will return the full floating point number, rather than microseconds unix_timestamp, as at present, probably making the function more readily useful for most people.
* The {} notation for string indexes will no longer be supported, while the [] version will get added substr() and array_slice() functionality. Previously [] was deprecated, but most developers, including myself, seem to use [].
* FastCGI will always be enabled for the CGI SAPI, and will not be able to be disabled.
* The ancient HTTP_*_VARS globals will no longer be supported. Everyone should have had more than enough time to remove any traces of these.
* var will alias public. var was permitted with PHP4 classes, but in PHP 5 this raised a warning. In PHP 6 var will simply be an alias for public, so no warning is necessary.
* The ze1 compatibility mode, which tried to retain PHP 4 behaviour but had some bugs, will be removed.
* Dynamic functions will no longer be permitted to be called with static syntax.

More info about it here: http://www.corephp.co.uk/archives/19-Pre...PHP-6.html