Does PHP have structs, typedefs, and/or enums and if not what is the best implementation for them? [duplicate]

Answer 1

PHP has two (count them – 2) datatypes:

1. A single scalar value stored as a piece of text which is be converted to a number or boolean in an arithmetic or logical context where possible.

2. The second structure is a hash (not an Array!) which is keyed by scalar text. If the key is a numeric value then the hash behaves very much like an array, but if it's a text value it behaves more like a classic perl hash.

You can 'fake' an enum using an inverted hash/array structure:

   $pretend_enum = array ( 'cent' => 1, 'nickel' => 2, 'dime' => 3 );
       if ($pretend_enum[$value]) {
           $encoded = $pretend_enum[$value];
   }   else {
           echo "$value is not a valid coin";
   } 

"Structures" are usually faked by having a hash with named members:

 $ceedee = array('title' => "Making Movies", 'artist' => "Dire Straights", 'tracks' => 12);
 echo "My favourite CD is " . $ceedee['title'];