Is using an instance of a class to access static methods considered bad practice?

Question

Is using an instance of a class to access static methods considered bad practice?

I.e.

$model = new MyClass();
$options = MyClass::getOptions();

vs

$model = new MyClass();
$options = $model::getOptions();

($model is instantiated in either case, I'm just wondering if one approach is preferable to the other.)

Answer 1

Traditionally the first way (specifying the class name itself) has more similarities with other languages such as Java.

The second one is unique to PHP (afaik); it works because the :: operator disambiguates the expression, unlike Java where a period is used for both instance and static properties.

I'm not sure what the performance impact is by using the second option, but I think it comes down to personal taste / coding standards.

Conclusion

If the types of your instances are immediately clear from the surrounding code it might be easier to go for the second option (sometimes the class name can be pretty big); but if not, use the first option as it's the most explicit.

Answer 2

That depends, I think. You can happily use static methods for many happy years, enjoying instantiation-free code, but one day you'll have to reroute some (that's where it goes) calls to another, descendant class, so simple search-and-replace call won't do. ) So going with a prepared object is a safer route, I think.

As an alternative, you can use something like this:

$className = 'MyClass';
$className::classyMethod1();
$className::classyMethod2();

... but that may become pretty confusing with time, I suppose (and is usable only in PHP 5.3+)