Navigating changes in magic methods

PHP magic methods are predefined hooks that interrupt the normal flow of an OOP application. Each magic method, if defined, alters the behavior of the application from the minute the object instance is created, up until the point where the instance goes out of scope.

Important note

An object instance goes out of scope when it's unset or overwritten. Object instances also go out of scope when defined in a function or class method, and the execution of that function or class method ends. Ultimately, if for no other reason, an object instance goes out of scope when the PHP program ends.

This section will give you a solid understanding of important changes to magic method usage and behavior introduced in PHP 8. Once you understand the situations described in this section, you will be in a position to make the appropriate code modifications to prevent your application code from failing should you migrate to PHP 8.

Let's first have...