NYCPHP Meetup

[David Mintz]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2003, Analysis & Solutions wrote:

> Hi Jim:
>
> On Mon, Oct 27, 2003 at 05:53:56PM -0500, Jim Smith wrote:
> > With PERL, if passing two arrays to a subroutine the arrays should be
> > passed as references to ensure their integrity.
> >

Oh, you mean so they don't get flattened into a single list.


> > Should this also be applied with PHP?
>
> Just curious, are you delcaring the function with arguments, or are you
> grabbing them via func_get_args()?
>
> Either way, I don't believe you HAVE to.
>
> Are you changing data in either of those arrays inside the function?  If
> so, then passing by reference is more efficient.
>


Is it not so that PHP -- I'm gonna try to say this intelligibly --
doesn't actually copy data that is passed-by-value unless and until you
change it inside the function? So pass-by-reference isn't necessary unless
it's what you really mean. Stated differently, passing by reference just
for the sake of saving memory doesn't save memory. True?

---
David Mintz
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