True/False.... still dealing cards?

Question

Why is the instance still dealing cards? Even though clearly, the $isDealer tag is defaulted to false, except for the dealer?

$cards = array('Ace','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','10','Jack','Queen','King');
$suits = array('Hearts','Diamonds','Spades','Clubs');

class Person {
public $isDealer = false;
public $luck = 15;

public function dealCards() {
    if ($isDealer) {

        global $cards;
        global $suits;

        for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) {
            $pulledcard = rand(0,count($cards)-1);
            $pulledsuit = rand(0,count($suits)-1);
            echo $dealt = $cards[$pulledcard] .' of '. $suits[$pulledsuit] . '<br>';
        }
    }
    else {
        return 'You\'re not a dealer';
        }
    }
}

class Baller extends Person { public $luck = 50; }
class Dealer extends Person { public $isDealer = true; }

$dealer = new Dealer();
$theman = new Baller();
$random = new Person();

echo $theman->dealCards();       //this should return you're not a dealer but it deals cards instead

The last part should return a "You're not a dealer!" but instead, it deals cards. The same goes with the actual "Dealer".

This is not the way to do it. `dealCards()` should be in the Dealer class. — Michael Hampton, Dec 09 '13 at 20:20
c'mon guys, isDealer is clearly not a class, it's defined and used procedurally — Félix Adriyel Gagnon-Grenier, Dec 09 '13 at 20:37
@Mike Thanks, but what's wrong with it? I didn't want to create an array every time the function was called. This way, the variables are only declared once. — , Dec 09 '13 at 21:25
@MichaelHampton I was thinking about that as well. I might as well do that. — , Dec 09 '13 at 21:28
@Richard check out http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5166087/php-global-in-functions — Mike, Dec 09 '13 at 21:29

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:20

5

You want

if ($this->isDealer) {

answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:20

Cfreak

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Yep, @user3084341, you need to use $this-> to reference a class variable! – Mathieu Dumoulin Dec 09 '13 at 20:21

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:21

1

$isDealer does not mean $this->isDealer. It means a new, implicitly-created variable.

Plus, you can't override member variables like that.

answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:21

Lightness Races in Orbit

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:26

When you write

if ($isDealer)

You are not checking the value for the variable that you expect. Your code is asking whether the variable $isDealer within the scope of the function dealCards() exists or is true/false. In order to check whether the member variable $isDealer for the class Person is true/false you must use $this->isDealer. This ensures that you are checking the member variable $isDealer within the cope of Person and not within the scope of the member function. So, you should get the behavior you expect if you use

if ($this->isDealer)

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 09 '13 at 20:42

When you have this line:

class Dealer extends Person { public $isDealer = true; }

is it possible that public $isDealer = true; will overwrite the public $isDealer in class Person{}, having it that $isDealer will always be true? from another point of view, if this script is the only place where you use $isDealer, it might not be really necessary to define it as public?

True/False.... still dealing cards?

4 Answers4