Wiki Snippets

The usual approach is

Use objects when returning a defined data structure with fixed branches:

$person
-> name = “John”
-> surname = “Miller”
-> address = “123 Fake St”

Use arrays when returning a list:

“John Miller”
“Peter Miller”
“Josh Swanson”
“Harry Miller”

Use an array of objects when returning a list of structured information:

$person[0]
-> name = “John”
-> surname = “Miller”
-> address = “123 Fake St”

$person[1]
-> name = “Peter”
-> surname = “Miller”
-> address = “345 High St”

Objects are not suitable to hold lists of data, because you always need a key to address them. Arrays can fulfill both functions – hold arbitrary lists, and a data structure.

Therefore, you can use associative arrays over objects for the first and third examples if you want to. I’d say that’s really just a question of style and preference.