Question abt PHP variables by refernce & Zend_Auth

Question

its possible to do a

$auth = Zend_Auth::getInstance();
$result = $auth->authenticate($adapter);

but i thought that is not passing a variable by reference?

... or do i need to use the instance of Zend_Auth by instance anyway?

Answer 1

Objects are always passed "by-reference" as of PHP5. Therefore Zend_Auth::getInstance() and $auth are the same object instance.