Weak typing in PHP: why use isset at all?

Question

It seems like my code works to check for null if I do

if ($tx) 

or

if (isset($tx))

why would I do the second one when it's harder to write?

Answer 1

if ($tx)

This code will evaluate to false for any of the following conditions:

unset($tx); // not set, will also produce E_WARNING
$tx = null;
$tx = 0;
$tx = '0';
$tx = false;
$tx = array();

The code below will only evaluate to false under the following conditions:

if (isset($tx))

// False under following conditions:
unset($tx); // not set, no warning produced
$tx = null;

For some people, typing is very important. However, PHP by design is very flexible with variable types. That is why the Variable Handling Functions have been created.