PHP inheritance and get_class

php_get_class.php

<?php

class BigClass {
    function whatIsThis() {
        echo __METHOD__ . ": " . get_class() . "\n";
    }

    function whatIsThisNow() {
        echo __METHOD__ . ": " . get_class($this) . "\n";
    }
}

class LittleClass extends BigClass {
}

$bc = new BigClass();
$lc = new LittleClass();

$bc->whatIsThis();
$bc->whatIsThisNow();
$lc->whatIsThis();
$lc->whatIsThisNow();

/* output:

BigClass::whatIsThis: BigClass
BigClass::whatIsThisNow: BigClass
BigClass::whatIsThis: BigClass
BigClass::whatIsThisNow: LittleClass

*/