Which is faster? Constants, Variables or Variable Arrays
constants, optimization, performance, php, variables
Solution
Constants defined using `define()` are fairly slow in PHP. People actually wrote extensions (like hidef) to improve the performance.
But unless you have loads of constants this shouldn't make much of a difference.
As of PHP 5.3 you can also use compile-time constants using `const NAME = VALUE;`. Those are much faster.
Problem
My current web application uses about 30 or so Contants (DEFINE()). I am reading things that variables are quicker. Provided that there is a naming convention to avoid variable overwrites, the only other draw back I see is that these variables would have to be defined as global variables some how in every function. Which is faster? I use these constants a whole lot throughout my application and will probably be forever adding more to the list and they are used in and out of functions and classes.