repo_zf1/documentation/manual/en/module_specs/Zend_Reflection-Introduction.xml

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<sect1 id="zend.reflection.introduction">
    <title>Introduction</title>

    <para>
        <classname>Zend_Reflection</classname> is a drop-in extension to <acronym>PHP</acronym>'s own <ulink
            url="http://php.net/reflection">Reflection <acronym>API</acronym></ulink>, providing
        several additional features:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
        <listitem><para>
            Ability to retrieve return values types.
        </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            Ability to retrieve method and function parameter types.
        </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            Ability to retrieve class property types.
        </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            DocBlocks gain a Reflection class, allowing introspection of
            docblocks. This provides the ability to determine what annotation
            tags have been defined as well as to retrieve their values, and the
            ability to retrieve the short and long descriptions.
        </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            Files gain a Reflection class, allowing introspection of <acronym>PHP</acronym> files.
            This provides the ability to determine what functions and classes
            are defined in a given file, as well as to introspect them.
        </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            Ability to override any Reflection class with your own variant, for
            the entire reflection tree you create.
        </para></listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
        In general, <classname>Zend_Reflection</classname> works just like the standard
        Reflection <acronym>API</acronym>, but provides a few additional methods for retrieving
        artifacts not defined in the Reflection <acronym>API</acronym>.
    </para>
</sect1>