Zend Framework 1 was one of the first major frameworks for PHP 5 and, for many, introduced object-oriented programming principles for writing PHP applications. Many developers looking to embrace a well-architected and supported framework chose to use it as the foundation for their applications. However, the first version was not without its faults. Zend Framework 2 is a significant improvement over its predecessor. It re-designed key components, promotes the re-use of code through modules, and takes advantage of features introduced in PHP 5.3 such as namespaces.

PHP 5's object-oriented enhancements are among the most significant improvements in the 10 year history of the language. This book introduces you to those features and the many opportunities they provide, as well as a number of tools that will help you maximize development efforts. The book begins with a broad overview of PHP 5's object-oriented features, introducing key topics like a class declaration, object instantiation, inheritance, and method and property encapsulation. You'll also learn about advanced topics including static methods and properties, abstract classes, interfaces, exception handling, object cloning, and more. The next part of the book is devoted to a topic that is often a natural extension of any object-oriented introduction: design patterns.