Using ::class in Model's $returnType instead of string - bad?

Before I go abound and create a PR for a documentation change, I have to ask if I have misunderstood something.
I am refactoring my CI 4.1.9 project in PHPstorm and found out that

PHP Code:

protected $returnType = App\Entities\SomeEntity::class; 


 is an excellent way of writing this instead of specifying this as a string 

PHP Code:

protected $returnType = 'App\Entities\SomeEntity'; 


As I read it from the documentation, "::class" expands at compile time so it can't be for performance reasons - https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.basic.php
What am I missing?
/Mattias

Yes, "::class" is better.
If you are using an IDE, the IDE auto completes class names to avoid typos,
and you can go to the class file with one click.

ci-phpunit-test | CodeIgniter Testing Guide | CodeIgniter 3 to 4 Upgrade Helper

Actually, the Model Generator creates the return types using the "::class" syntax:

PHP Code:

$return = '\\' . trim($return, '\\') . '::class';
$this->call('make:entity', array_merge([$baseClass], $this->params)); 


See https://github.com/codeigniter4/CodeIgni...#L126-L127

So maybe then the docs should be updated to reflect "best practices"?

So maybe then the docs should be updated to reflect "best practices"?

Yes.

ci-phpunit-test | CodeIgniter Testing Guide | CodeIgniter 3 to 4 Upgrade Helper

So maybe then the docs should be updated to reflect "best practices"?

Yes.

Working on a PR.

---

https://github.com/codeigniter4/CodeIgniter4/pull/6134

Thanks for the discussion and contribution! I use ::class any time I have a class string. You can also use the special phpdoc block type `class-string` to narrow types for IDE and static analysis (e.g. https://phpstan.org/writing-php-code/php...ass-string)

Thanks for the discussion and contribution! I use ::class any time I have a class string. You can also use the special phpdoc block type `class-string` to narrow types for IDE and static analysis (e.g. https://phpstan.org/writing-php-code/php...ass-string)

Cool. phpstan is next on my to-do-list to start using.