Why does the instructor specifically say "Don't use the $ sign for the method call? This is wrong...

Exactly. I was confused when the instructor said not to use the dollar sign as this is required.

$foo = new Foo();
$funcname = "functionName";

$foo->{$funcname}(); // correct
$foo->$funcname(); // correct
$foo->funcname(); // incorrect, tries to run funcname() rather than functionName()

I'm currently going through the PHP tutorials as a refresher as there's always basic parts that are overlooked, this video is incorrect and probably should be changed. A beginner will be confused when their code doesn't work if they're running the tutorial code on their own dev environment.

This is interesting.

So I found this http://php.net/manual/en/functions.variable-functions.php

If you look at the bottom of example #2, this is their example

$foo = new Foo();
$funcname = "Variable";
$foo->$funcname();  // This calls $foo->Variable()

I'm curious as to whether there is something we are missing, or if this was just an oversite. This is something I probably would not have caught.

Hampton Paulk

Guys

The reason my you would use the $ sign is because you are using a variable to inject a method name in place. It's kind of like when you use variables in double-quoted strings. Remember, variables are just pointers to memory locations that hold pieces of information. Although I would use $foo->{$funcname}() since this, in code, looks more proper (kind of like telling you that this is a special circumstance). In short, okay to use it in this form when referencing a variable whose name is a function name you want to use.

Cheers!

So am I correcting in thinking the video needs to be altered to correct this code error?

Correct the error with the "$" sign!