When should static be used in PHP and why should it be avoided in certain cases?

Static should be used in PHP when you want to define a method or property that belongs to the class itself rather than to an instance of the class. However, static should be avoided in certain cases where it can lead to tightly coupled code, make testing more difficult, and hinder the ability to extend and override functionality. 

class Example {
    public static $count = 0;

    public static function incrementCount() {
        self::$count++;
    }

    public function getCount() {
        return self::$count;
    }
}

Example::incrementCount();
echo Example::getCount(); // Output: 1

Keywords

static PHP OOP memory performance

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