What is the significance of using public variables in PHP objects for nested data structures?

Using public variables in PHP objects for nested data structures can simplify access and manipulation of data within the object. By making variables public, they can be accessed directly from outside the object without the need for getter and setter methods. This can make the code cleaner and more readable, especially when dealing with complex nested data structures.

class NestedDataStructure {
    public $data = [];

    public function __construct($data) {
        $this->data = $data;
    }
}

// Example usage
$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'address' => [
        'street' => '123 Main St',
        'city' => 'Anytown',
        'state' => 'CA'
    ]
];

$nestedData = new NestedDataStructure($data);

// Accessing nested data directly
echo $nestedData->data['name']; // Output: John Doe
echo $nestedData->data['address']['city']; // Output: Anytown