The dynamic nature of PHP defines – you don’t need to declare all variables, inherently adding the notion that adding them initially was a pursuit to be avoided.
So why re-implement a feature people bothered to un-impliment?
$this->that;
VS ~
$this->getThat();
function getThat(){
return $this->that;
}
At least make redundant set/get [tters] dynamic. Use of the magic __set() and __get() methods means the benefit of protecting access to your objects properties can be encapsulated into your base class easily enough.