[development] node type without a title?

[Mark Fredrickson]

> I think the simplest answer would be to have a hook_node_title() or similar
> that takes either a nid or node object, and returns the human-friendly string
> for the node.  The simplest case would just return $node->title, and in fact
> that could be the default behavior of no *_node_title() is defined.  If it's
> defined, that function can return a semi-unique string based on the node
> however it likes.

This sounds a lot like an object-oriented design pattern where the
node object's data is private and has to be requested through accessor
methods.

This is the second time in two days where I've realized that Drupal is
moving towards implementing its own object system, if only a
rudimentary kind.

At the risk of hijacking this thread and starting a total flame war:
is it time for Drupal to embrace the OOP paradigm? (Don't bother
sending me the link to the page on api.drupal.org - I've read it)

People want CRUD functions for everything. People want accessor
methods that inherit from a base class. Some people (e.g. me) want an
O/R mapper to make life easier.

Can we graft an object system on to the structured array paradigm we
already have? Is it worth it?

Traditionally drupal has avoided a full object system for performance
reasons. When will those benefits be outweighed by the cost of
implementing our own rudimentary object system?

Thoughts?

-Mark "Plays with matches on the devel list" Fredrickson