Planet CakePHP

So I’ve gotten feedback from a handful of beginning CakePHP’ers out there, and one of the most common concerns, or better said common things to get used to, is the
1$this
object. Some folks look at
1$this
and think it’s a variable and wonder what the heck is going on. It’s true, that it appears everywhere in a Cake application. I decided to make a screencast illustrating a little more clearly what the
1$this
object can contain, depending on where you use it.
I wonder if it’s bound to be a little too abstract, though. We’ll just have to see. Do let me know what you think of it. I wanted to give it a try, going into something that’s foundational to one’s ability to work in Cake, but something a little less explained. Matter of fact, I did search around looking to see if anyone had done a tutorial on
1$this
in CakePHP, and didn’t find anything that specific. So I can empathize with newbies who feel a little confused.
Anyhow, check it out, and let me know what you think and how I might improve the discussion.