PHP Procedural vs. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

ProceduralVsOop.php

<?php
// Procedural
function example_new() {
  return array(
    'vars' => array()
  );
}

function example_set($example, $name, $value) {
  $example['vars'][$name] = $value;
  return $example;
}

function example_get($example, $name) {
  $value = isset($example['vars'][$name]) ? $example['vars'][$name] : null;
  return array($example, $value);
}

$example = example_new();
$example = example_set($example, 'foo', 'hello');
list($example, $value) = example_get($example, 'foo');


// OOP
class Example
{
  private $vars = array();

  public function set($name, $value)
  {
    $this->vars[$name] = $value;
  }

  public function get($name)
  {
    return isset($this->vars[$name]) ? $this->vars[$name] : null;
  }
}

$example = new Example();
$example->set('foo', 'hello');
$value = $example->get('foo');

?>

The procedural style could be even better or clearer using namespaces.

namespace example;

function init() { // new is a reserved keyword
  return [];
}

function set(&$example, $name, $value) {
  $example[$name] = $value;
}

function get($example, $name) {
  return isset($example[$name]) ? $example[$name] : null;
}

And then in another script (or namespace):

use example;

$example = example\init();
example\set($example, 'foo', 'hello');
$value = example\get($example, 'foo');