How does the concept of encapsulation relate to the decision between creating an instance of a class or using static calls?

Encapsulation is the concept of bundling data and methods that operate on the data into a single unit. When deciding between creating an instance of a class or using static calls, consider whether the functionality you are implementing belongs to a specific instance of the class or is a general utility function that does not rely on specific instance data. If the functionality is specific to an instance, creating an instance of the class is appropriate. If the functionality is general and does not rely on instance data, using static calls may be more suitable. 

class Calculator {
    public function add($num1, $num2) {
        return $num1 + $num2;
    }
}

// Creating an instance of the class
$calc = new Calculator();
$result = $calc->add(5, 3);
echo $result;

// Using static calls
class MathUtils {
    public static function add($num1, $num2) {
        return $num1 + $num2;
    }
}

$result = MathUtils::add(5, 3);
echo $result;

Keywords

encapsulation class instance static calls PHP

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