What are the best practices for handling static methods and properties in PHP to avoid errors and inconsistencies?

When handling static methods and properties in PHP, it is important to follow best practices to avoid errors and inconsistencies. One key practice is to ensure that static methods and properties are accessed using the scope resolution operator (::) instead of the object operator (->). This helps to clearly indicate that they are static elements of a class and not instance-specific. 

class MyClass {
    public static $myStaticProperty = 'Hello';

    public static function myStaticMethod() {
        return self::$myStaticProperty;
    }
}

// Accessing static property
echo MyClass::$myStaticProperty;

// Accessing static method
echo MyClass::myStaticMethod();

Keywords

static methods static properties errors inconsistencies PHP best practices

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