Use '.class.php' extension for PHP classes?

Question

Is it common practice to append use '.class.php' extension for PHP classes?

On PHP.net here: http://php.net/manual/en/function.spl-autoload-register.php there are some examples like this:

// Or, using an anonymous function as of PHP 5.3.0
spl_autoload_register(function ($class) {
    include 'classes/' . $class . '.class.php';
});

which use a .class.php extension.

Should PHP code be written like this? I've never seen it before, is it something new? This is a kind of new feature in PHP so maybe it is?

EDIT: 'feature' was not a good word! Perhaps I should have asked whether it's some standard or convention.

Thanks.

Answer 1

It's not a feature, it's just a convention that you see come up every now and then. Whether to follow it or not is the choice of you and your team.

My personal opinion is that since the choice is arbitrary and this particular style contradicts with the PSR-0 autoloader specification you should pass because:

• PSR-0 is more widely used, so all other things being equal it would be a better convention to follow
• following the ".class.php" style means cannot take a PSR-0 compliant autoloader (there are many online) and use it without modifications