debugging in the console from php

JSDebug.php

<?php


/**
 * @method void error() error(string $name, mixed $var)
 * @method void exception() exception(string $name, mixed $var)
 * @method void info() info(string $name, mixed $var)
 * @method void log() log(string $name, mixed $var)
 * @method void trace() trace(string $name, mixed $var)
 * @method void warn() warn(string $name, mixed $var)
 */
class JSDebug {
  function __construct() {
    echo '<script type="text/javascript">' . PHP_EOL;

    /// this is for IE and other browsers w/o console
    echo 'if (!window.console) console = {};';
    echo 'console.log = console.log || function(){};';
    echo 'console.warn = console.warn || function(){};';
    echo 'console.error = console.error || function(){};';
    echo 'console.info = console.info || function(){};';
    echo 'console.debug = console.debug || function(){};';
    echo '</script>';
    /// end of IE
  }

  /**
   *
   * @param type $name
   * @param type $arguments
   */
  public function __call($name, $arguments) {
    $arguments[] = $name;
    call_user_method_array('debug', $this, $arguments);
  }

  /**
   * Spit out some debug info
   * @param type $name
   * @param type $var
   * @param type $type
   */
  private function debug($name, $var = null, $type = 'log') {
    echo '<script type="text/javascript">' . PHP_EOL;
    echo 'console.log("' . $name . '");' . PHP_EOL;

    if (!empty($var)) {
      if (is_object($var) || is_array($var)) {
        $object = json_encode($var);
        echo 'var object' . preg_replace('~[^A-Z|0-9]~i', "_", $name) . ' = \'' . str_replace("'", "\'", $object) . '\';' . PHP_EOL;
        echo 'var val' . preg_replace('~[^A-Z|0-9]~i', "_", $name) . ' = eval("(" + object' . preg_replace('~[^A-Z|0-9]~i', "_", $name) . ' + ")" );' . PHP_EOL;
        echo 'console.' . $type . '(val' . preg_replace('~[^A-Z|0-9]~i', "_", $name) . ');' . PHP_EOL;
      } else {
        echo 'console.' . $type . '("' . self::escape_quotes($var) . '");' . PHP_EOL;
      }
    }
    echo '</script>' . PHP_EOL;
  }

  /**
   * Escape the quotes in a string
   * @param type $str
   */
  private static function escape_quotes(&$str) {
    $str = str_replace('"', '\\"', $str);
  }

}

usage.php

<?php
require 'JSDebug.class.php';

$console = new JSDebug();
$console->error('error output', array('this', 'is', 'a', 'test'));
$console->info('info output', (object)array('what the', 'heck?'));
$console->log('log output', (object)array('what the', 'heck?'));
$console->warn('warning output', array('what the', 'heck?'));