How can a beginner in PHP understand and effectively use method chaining in their code?

Method chaining in PHP allows you to call multiple methods on an object in a single line of code, which can make your code more concise and readable. To effectively use method chaining as a beginner, make sure to return $this from each method in your class so that you can continue chaining methods. Additionally, be mindful of the order in which you chain your methods to ensure that each method is called on the correct object.

class MyClass {
    private $value;

    public function setValue($value) {
        $this->value = $value;
        return $this;
    }

    public function addValue($amount) {
        $this->value += $amount;
        return $this;
    }

    public function multiplyValue($factor) {
        $this->value *= $factor;
        return $this;
    }
}

$obj = new MyClass();
$result = $obj->setValue(5)->addValue(3)->multiplyValue(2)->value;
echo $result; // Output: 16