Magic Methods and Constants

Magic methods are methods that start with a double underscore. The __construct() is a magic method. It is used to initialize the properties in a class when we create an object of it.

<?php

class Car {

    private $model;

    public function __construct($model = NULL) 
    {
        if ($model) {
            $this->model = $model;
        }
    }

    public function getCarModel()
    {
       echo "<p>The car model is " . $this->model . "</p>";
    }
}

$car1 = new Car('BMW');
$car1->getCarModel();

Let us create another class and practice what we have learned as below:

<?php

class User {

    private $firstName;
    private $lastName;

    public function __construct($firstName, $lastName)
    {
        $this->firstName = $firstName;
        $this->lastName = $lastName;
    }

    public function getFullName()
    {
        return $this->firstName . " " . $this->lastName;
    }
}

$user1 = new User("John", "Doe");
echo $user1->getFullName();