We currently don't include most php 'magic' methods in our
controllers and models (__destruct, __get, __set, __isset, __unset)
which more modern php version would recommend. Though there are
some generic methods which could easily be integrated (currently
they are commented out), they disrupt the execution of Exponent
since we rely on the empty() method but this acts differently once
these magic methods are in place.
With good coding practices, the get/set methods are not needed,
HOWEVER the __destruct method could become valuable for operations
with large databases. In that objects don't normally release their
associated objects when they are unset. And in most cases we simply
rewrite over the variable object or set it to null which leaves the
associated objects in memory.