In this case it isn't so weird, since PHP pre 5.3 didn't have first class functions. To pass a function around, you would use a variable containing a string of it's name.
create_function was a way to
A) not having to define a function separately
B) not getting problems with the function being re-defined, since each call would create a new function
C) fake closures by generating code.
All this should be moot points by now, since PHP has real anonymous functions with closures,
