BuddyPress.org

After the very helpful response of @hnla to an earlier question I posted I’ve been reading through more of the core files to understand what I can and can’t hook into, and there is a recurring pattern I see in how the files are set up and I’m curious as to why, if anyone is able to elucidate.

Random example, from bp-members-template.php

function bp_members_slug() {
	echo bp_get_members_slug();
}
function bp_get_members_slug() {
	global $bp;
	return apply_filters( 'bp_get_members_slug', $bp->members->slug );
}

If all bp_members_slug() does is echo bp_get_members_slug(), why not just use bp_get_members_slug() directly?

It is such a common pattern there is obviously a good reason for it…