`return $this;` design pattern or anti-pattern?

Question

I\'ve seen many times Zend Framework using return $this; pattern style - and from my point of view:

• Pro: seems its quite not

Answer 1

It is not exclusively PHP/Zend Framework doing this, as there are many other programming languages that use the fluent interface. I certainly think it comes in handy and that using the fluent interface is a good way of coding. Although sometimes codes looks weird, doesn't mean it is wrong and I don't think you can place this under con to be honest.

In the end the programmer only sees that he gets the same object back, not how it looks inside the code of the fluent interface class. I think the biggest pro in the fluent interface is the readability of the code. If you want to hear a con then debugging a fluent chain is one.

• Fluent interface