function getParam() to allow the application to collect the request variables and so the rest of the application is
protected from a change in environment. For example, a command line request environment wouldn’t contain
the HTTP specific items, but would include the command line arguments passed to the script. Thus the code:
$items = $request->getParam('items');
will work unchanged when run as a web request or as a command line script.
In general, The request object should be treated as read only to the application as, implicitly, the values set
by the user shouldn’t be changed. Having said that, Zend_Controller_Request_Http also contains parameters
which can be set in the start up phase of the application and then retrieved by the action functions as required.
DREAM THAT SYMPTOMISE THE DEATH !
