Delete Your Code #2: less OOP visibility keywords

Hey! I gonna describe tricks that I use to have less code. Why it is important to have less code, you ask? Less code means less bugs, less support, less developer brains waste.

Today’s trick is extremely simple — when you have a long set of public, protected or private class properties, remove the visibility keyword set to each declaration but define it once as comma separated declaration.

Same applies to class constants as well.

Example:

// Before:
class Cat {
    const KINGDOM = 'Animalia';
    const PHYLUM  = 'Chordata';
    const FAMILY  = 'Felidae';

    public $tail;
    public $whisker = '\/';
    public $head;
    public $legs = array(1,2,3,4);
}

// After:
class Cat {
    const
        KINGDOM = 'Animalia',
        PHYLUM  = 'Chordata',
        FAMILY  = 'Felidae';

    public
        $tail,
        $whisker  = '\/',
        $head,
        $legs = array(1,2,3,4);
}

One benefit is that the code looks clear and it’s much easier to scan rather then to read.

Second benefit is when you need to change the visibility for a property, you don’t have to edit the visibility keyword near the property name (which might be an error prone process when you are tired) — you just move the line up or down, which usually has a shortcut in IDE.

Known disadvantage is that most documenting engines don’t support this ferature.