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dexen dot devries at gmail dot com ¶
7 years ago
Every instance of a lambda has own instance of static variables. This provides for great event handlers, accumulators, etc., etc.

Creating new lambda with function() { ... }; expression creates new instance of its static variables. Assigning a lambda to a variable does not create a new instance. A lambda is object of class Closure, and assigning lambdas to variables has the same semantics as assigning object instance to variables.

Example script: $a and $b have separate instances of static variables, thus produce different output. However $b and $c share their instance of static variables - because $c is refers to the same object of class Closure as $b - thus produce the same output.

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php

function generate_lambda() : Closure
{
        # creates new instance of lambda
    return function($v = null) {
        static $stored;
        if ($v !== null)
            $stored = $v;
        return $stored;
    };
}

$a = generate_lambda();  # creates new instance of statics
$b = generate_lambda();  # creates new instance of statics
$c = $b;                                 # uses the same instance of statics as $b

$a('test AAA');
$b('test BBB');
$c('test CCC');  # this overwrites content held by $b, because it refers to the same object

var_dump([ $a(), $b(), $c() ]);
?>

This test script outputs:
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(8) "test AAA"
  [1]=>
  string(8) "test CCC"
  [2]=>
  string(8) "test CCC"
}
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