How to alias a class method in PHP?

Question

Let's say I have a class in PHP with a method that serialises data. Being English, I use the English spelling of -ISE.

class Foo
{

    public function serialise($data)
    {
        return json_encode($data);
    }

}

Let's also say that I have an American developer on my team who tries to "serialize" the data (-IZE).

$foo = new Foo();
$foo->serialize(['one', 'two', 'three']);
// PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined method Foo::serialize()

The obvious way to solve this is to alias the method. My instincts are to create another method with the American spelling and simply pass the same parameters.

class Foo
{

    // ...

    public function serialize($data)
    {
        return $this->serialise($data);
    }

}

But this has a couple of downfalls:

I have to match the parameters and remember to update both methods if there's ever an update (error prone).
Additional function call for American developers means the code is less efficient.
Modifying one in a sub-class doesn't necessarily update the other.

My question is: is there a better way to alias a class method in PHP? A way that can get around the concerns that I have?

there exist german developers who use german words for their functions.. they should not... Just use the standard and common method name serialize. I don't think you can rename/alias class methods in PHP — Nicolas Heimann, Nov 26 '18 at 10:12
Most users will type `ser` and then use whatever the code-completion offers. ;) — SpazzMarticus, Nov 26 '18 at 10:24

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 26 '18 at 10:33

One way to reduce the maintenance burden is to use the ... operator to accept any number of arguments, and unpack them in the forwarded call:

public function serialize(...$args)
{
    return $this->serialise(...$args);
}

The downside is that the function now no longer has a signature which can be auto-completed in editors; you could list the real arguments in a docblock, but that would defeat the point because you'd need to keep it up to date.

The best solution though is probably to have a naming convention, and have everyone learn it, for the same reason as any other coding convention: it's a lot easier to read code which is consistent. Using a good editor or IDE, the wrong spelling will quickly be highlighted and corrected, and there is no additional complexity of maintaining the aliases.

Interfaces can help a lot toward naming conventions. Especially when the IDE can automatically add stubs for required methods. — cautionbug, Nov 03 '20 at 17:37

How to alias a class method in PHP?

1 Answers1