In this chapter we introduced some of the most commonly used utility classes that are included within Joomla!'s library. Not only does the library provide us with Joomla! core classes, but it also provides us with many invaluable utilities and useful classes.
Working with the file system is a common activity. Using the joomla.filesystem
library is extremely easy and it provides us with far more power and consistency than the basic PHP file-system functions.
Arrays have long been a key data type. PHP provides us with many useful functions for handling arrays; Joomla! extends this functionality through the JArrayHelper
class.
Data structures are often used to model information. The tree structure is a very common data structure and Joomla! provides us with a way of easily building such a structure.
We should always bear in mind that if there isn't something appropriate within the Joomla! library to handle a specific task, we can always turn to the other libraries with which we are provided...