Its quite simple: SQ (Single Quotes) is faster. Hands down.

It’s even faster when adding the variable by concatenating multiple strings. Please look at the following code:
//variable used in DQ
$time = microtime();
for($i=0;$i<1000;++$i){
$$i = "Some Random String $i with a number";
}
echo microtime()-$time;
//Variable used in concatenation with DQ
echo '
';
for($i=0;$i<1000;++$i){
$$i = "Some Random String ".$i." with a number";
}
echo microtime()-$time;
//variable used in concatenation with SQ
echo '
';
$time = microtime();
for($i=0;$i<1000;++$i){
$$i = 'Some Random String '.$i.' with a number';
}
echo microtime()-$time;


Code speaks for itself. In order of speed:
1. SQ
2. DQ without concat.
3. DQ with concat.

Why, easy: Single quotes does not require evaluating. DQ without concat requires 1 evaluate. DQ with concat requires 2 evaluations of the string.
So, in conclusion: double quotes are evil!

The following tests were performed 50 times with PHP 5.2.6.

First I tested the following pieces of code for parse time, $iConcats was set to 5000:

for($i=0; $i<$iConcats; ++$i)
{
$o .= ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’;
}

This parsed on avarage in 0.0065 seconds.
Next up was the array equivalent:

for($i=0; $i<$iConcats; ++$i)
{
$a[] = ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’;
}
$a = join(”, $a);

This parsed on average in about 0.0187 seconds. That’s almost 3 times slower!
I deliberately added the join statement as it completes the comparison. And dor the more visually oriented amongst us, google provides nice graphs:

During the measurements I also tracked the memory usage, which had the same outcome, concatenation wins again.

For string concatenation memory usage was ~56Mb. The array version used up ~155Mb. Again the three times! And again, let’s look at some graphs:

And in pie:

So in conclusion (at least for PHP 5.2.6) string concatenation is faster than array joins!

Strings vs Arrays: 2-0.

If you have some test resutls you want to share, please respond below or send me an email, you can reach me at: korneelwever. I’m with the Google mail service .

http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/2680-Php-Fractal-Generator

Unfortunately that is quite inefficient. So I made some adjustments. I can now render a 500*500 pixel fractal in 15-16 seconds on my laptop (1.2Ghz DualCore, one used) (see image). That is quite faster than the example.
(I’ll test on this server and at work for reference, watch for updates). I’ll post the code here soon.

Next up is a mashup between SkyLined’s and my script to have PHP render the ASCII art fractals and animations, maybe I can render animated gifs

For functions you don’t use all the time, you might forget what the parameters are, or in which sequence they are to be given. At least I do. The editors mentioned above have a feature where it can suggest a function on the go. So does Notepad++. But (afaik) Zend and Dreamweaver also suggest the parameters. Which N++ does not.

The ‘api’ for N++ lacks the parameter suggestion. But I wrote a little script which added the parameters to the file.

You can download a copy of php.api here.(use ‘save target as’)

Please note that using the suggestion will result in the description text of the parameters to be added as well. So for now, just use the suggestions as guidance.

To use this file i suggest to set the following settings:
auto-completion enabled on function, starting from 2 charatures (or it will drive you insane with spaces and tabs)

Also, as a tip, you can use Ctrl+shift+space to complete variables in your file.

[edit]
More posts about Notepad++ can be found here: Notepad++ customization.