PHP : Loops, arrays and sorting

public function getAl开发者_开发技巧lEventsByDate($allEvents, $date) {
    $theEvents = array();

    foreach ($allEvents as $event) {
        if ($date == 'future' && $event['start'] > time())
            $theEvents[] = $event;
        else if ($date == 'past' && $event['stop'] < time())
            $theEvents[] = $event;
        else if ($date == 'current' && $event['start'] < time() &&
        $event['stop'] > time())
            $theEvents[] = $event;
    }

    return $theEvents;
}

My boss was surprised that I use every time $theEvents[].

How would you do this?

Maybe code should look like this.

public function getAllEventsByDate($allEvents, $date) {
    $theEvents = array();

    foreach ($allEvents as $event) {
        $condition =
            ($date == 'future'  && $event['start'] > time()) ||
            ($date == 'past'    && $event['stop']  < time()) ||
            ($date == 'current' && $event['start'] < time() &&
                                   $event['stop']  > time())
        ;

        if ($condition) {
            $theEvents[] = $event;
        }
    }

    return $theEvents;
}

My boss was surprised that I use every time $theEvents[]. How would you do this?

I'd do it... just like that, actually. That code seems relatively simple, straightforward and entirely unambiguous. It's a little verbose (you could condense it into a single if check), but it's verbose for a purpose and is very clear.

What are your boss' concerns?

Since all of your conditional branches lead to the same statement, it can be written as one if-statement (see below).

public function getAllEventsByDate($allEvents, $date) {
    $theEvents = array();

    foreach ($allEvents as $event) {
        if (
             ( ($date == 'future') && ($event['start'] > time()) ) ||
             ( ($date == 'past') && ($event['stop'] < time()) ) ||
             ( ($date == 'current') && ($event['start'] < time()) && ($event['stop'] > time()) )
           ) {
                 $theEvents[] = $event;
             }

        return $theEvents;
    }

Based on the response of Whirlpool :

public function getAllEventsByDate($allEvents, $date) {
    $theEvents = array();

    $condition1 = ($date == 'future'  && $event['start'] > time());
    $condition2 = ($date == 'past'    && $event['stop']  < time());
    $condition3 = ($date == 'current' && $event['start'] < time()
                                      && $event['stop']  > time());

    foreach ($allEvents as $event)
        if ($condition1 || $condition2 || $condition3)
            $theEvents[] = $event;

    return $theEvents;
}