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PHP Object-Oriented PHP Basics Building the Recipe Separating Methods

Yohan Park
Yohan Park
7,148 Points
Posted by Yohan Park
Yohan Park
7,148 Points

why initialize $output with "" ?

Just curious. For both render methods we initialize the $output with "". I know this is probably best practices but what's the specific reason?

//why
$output = "";
$output .= $recipe->getTitle() . " by " . $recipe->getSource();
//instead of
$output = $recipe->getTitle() . " by " . $recipe->getSource();
Dave StSomeWhere
Dave StSomeWhere
19,870 Points
Dave StSomeWhere
Dave StSomeWhere
19,870 Points

There's probably many reasons. For me, I see it as modular/flexible design. Your //instead of example is a one trick pony. The //why example can have something besides just an empty value when executed and the concatenated process just adds something additional to the end. Also, something else can be added with or without the title and source. Just my take :smile:

Yohan Park
Yohan Park
7,148 Points
Yohan Park
Yohan Park
7,148 Points

Thanks, Dave! That's a reasonable answer.