GitHub<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n\nTo me this makes more sense when it comes to trying to find out what is happening and where. I am to be able to plug the code in where I want to run it, rather than having to sift though function declaration after declaration to see what’s running where. Named functions should be used for reusable code blocks, often I find most of the modifications made by hooks are not that.<\/p>\n
Why not use Closures?<\/h4>\n
The majority of development work I do is on client projects, and other for-purpose applications rather than\u00a0distributed plugins or themes. For me this means “get code hooked into WordPress where you need to, and make it do what you want it to do”. Plugin \/ theme development isn’t necessarily like that, you have considerations of third parties interacting with the code, you have to make sure you are not swallowing a hook'<\/code>s already altered output and provide ways for users to change how things work in a configurable way. This leads to when it’s not so great to use closures.<\/p>\n\n- Where anything is likely to want to remove a function you have created (you can’t use
remove_filter()<\/code> with a Closure, as there is no function name), as stated above – not great for distributed code.<\/li>\n- Closures are PHP 5.3+<\/strong> only, which means if you want to support all WordPress installs, they are a “no go”. However, anyone running PHP 5.2 should upgrade to 5.3 as it has numerous benefits over 5.2 in terms of performance and language features.<\/li>\n
- Where you are likely to want to use the function multiple times, from different scopes.<\/li>\n
- When you need the function to be accessible at all times (e.g.
wp_schedule_event()<\/code> callback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAs you can see Closures certainly aren’t the answer in many situations, but do have their uses. If they let you be more productive when coding and the environment you are working in allows it then I think we should embrace new language features like this.\u00a0This is just some examples of how I use Closures with WordPress, I am looking forward to discussing the benefits \/ disadvantages with everyone below.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There has been little discussion on the use of PHP Closures with WordPress code, hopefully we will be able to spark some here! Before getting into the nitty-gritty, to make sure everyone is on the same page a quick explanation of a PHP Closure. Anonymous functions, also known as\u00a0closures, allow the creation of functions which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[98],"people":[],"company":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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