Why can't you call abstract functions from abstract classes in PHP?

Question

I\'ve set up an abstract parent class, and a concrete class which extends it. Why can the parent class not call the abstract function?

//foo.php


        

Answer 1

You notice that word self?

That is pointing to AbstractClass. Thus it is calling AbstractClass::foo(), not ConcreteClass::foo();

I believe PHP 5.3 will provide late static bindings, but if you are not on that version, self will not refer to an extended class, but the class that the function is located in.

See: http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.get-called-class.php