OOP question - global variables?

[Athlon1600]

public class someting {

private int num = 456;

public void doSomething(){

int variable = num + 456;
}

}

In java, variables on the top can simply be accessed by referring to them, but if I want to access the same variable in PHP, I would have to do this:

$this->num

is there a way to declare a variable in a way that it could be accessed anywhere in the class without $this keyword.
I also want it to be private to other classes.

[rageh]

Yes it is possible but only in procedural coding. Not in classes. To get access to any variable declared in a class, you need the $this keyword

[JREAM]

You can use plain variables within a Method...

 class Hello
{
  public function Run()
  {
    $a = 1;
    // Use $a anywhere inside of Run()
  }
} 

You can use globals but that will only allow you to access that variable within the Method it's declared I think, not the whole class. I could be wrong.

There are Static variables that can be useful as well, but that is probably not what you're looking for

[sk89q]

Nope.

[PCSpectra]

If the variable is a data member of a class you must some kind of scope resolution operator, whether that be $this->someVariable or A_Static_Member::someVariable

Otherwise how would you differentiate from a local variable, or class variable?

Cheers,
Alex

[crmalibu]

Otherwise how would you differentiate from a local variable, or class variable?

Java lets you do it, and I kinda prefer it over the verbose $this-> syntax to be honest. But it's considered bad practice to make a local variable with the same name as an instance variable. The local variable just takes over for the duration of the scope block it was declared in, and using this.foo is how you access the instance variable instead of the local in that situation.

Main thing I don't like about it is you still end up either using this, or picking a different name for setters and the like.

public void setAge(int years) {
    this.years = years;
}

or

public void setAge(int numYears) {
    years = numYears;
}

[sk89q]

Even then though, I like the Java way much better.

[eanimator]

Use registry pattern Hope this helps

[Jake Arkinstall]

The registry pattern won't help the OP here

I have always prefered the 'Java' way of doing it (though it should be noted that Java wasn't the first or even most popular language that adopted this). However, PHP needs to maintain differences to other languages, and this is one of the ways.

Some benefits can be found. For example, in Java I camelcase variables with the first letter also being uppercase, for example 'SomeVariableName'. For function parameters I need to use a lowercase first letter to distinguish between them, for example:

public void setName(String name){
    Name = name;
}

With PHP I can keep to the same convention no matter what the origin of the variable:

public function setName($Name){
    $this->Name = $Name;
} 

Not exactly a massive benefit, but I suppose every little counts