Pseudo-code for MVC linked people logic

linked_people.php

<?php

function get_people() {
  // Do something...
  return $all_the_people;
}

function remove_array_values($arr1, $arr2) {
  foreach ($arr1 as $key => $item) {
    if (in_array($item, $arr2)) {
      unset($arr1[$key]);
    }
  }
  return $arr1;
}

function workgroup_links($name) {

  $people = get_people();
  $output = array(
    'my_linked' => array(),
    'something_else' => array(),
    'others' => array(),
  );

  // Fill up the values, removing duplicates from previous iterations.
  $output['my_linked'] = get_my_linked_people($people);
  $output['something_else'] = remove_array_values(get_something_else($people), $output['my_linked']);
  $output['others'] = remove_array_values(get_others($people), $output['something_else']);

  if (!$name) {
    return $output;
  }

  return $output[$name];

}

function get_my_linked_people($people) {
  // Do some logic with $people...
  return $new_people;
}

function get_something_else($people) {
  // Do some logic with $people...
  return $new_people;
}

function get_others($people) {
  // Do some logic with $people...
  return $new_people;
}


function my_linked_block() {
  return theme(workgroup_links('my_linked'));
}

function something_else_block() {
  return theme(workgroup_links('something_else'));
}

function others_block() {
  return theme(workgroup_links('others'));
}