Consider following DataObject:

class News extends DataObject {
public static $db = Array(
'Title'  => 'Text',
'Date'   => 'Date',
)

public function getTitle() {
    return 'MyTitle';
}
  
public function getDate() {
  return date('j.n.',strtotime($this->getField('Date')));
}
}

now in the template:

<% loop $News %>
    <div class="news">
      <span class="date">$Date</span><a href="">$Title</a>
    </div>
<% end_loop%>

The overloaded method for field 'Title' is called corretly and string "MyTitle" is returned. On the other hand overloaded method for field 'Date' isn't called and the default getter is used instead, so the 'Date' si returned in DD-MM-YYYY format. Fortunately it can be fixed by changing $Date to $getDate in template.

Another similar problem is calling methods with parameters from template. If method is defined:

public function getSomething($param) {
  return 'Something with'.$param;
}

and $Something(Param) is used in template then [Warning] Missing argument 1 for SomeController::getSomething() is thrown. It's quite interesting to me, because it means that the right method is called, but the arguments are not passed. Again it can be fixed by changing $Something(Param) to $getSomething(Param).

I find this behavior inconsistent and confusing, is there any logic into it or am I missing something?