Programming Forums > Web Development and Design > PHP

kurifu · Sep 5th, 2004, 4:50 PM

I have noticed that PHP has a major appolling lack of support for pointers, being an avid C++'er this can pose a bit of a nuissance, though most need for pointers has been eliminated by PHP's native support for string types, and data serialization and deserialization and dictionary support.

However one problem I have noticed with this is that most web environments limit the amount of memory you are permitted to use to something about 8Mb by default, typically not a problem (more of a problem when you possibly start using Apache 2's multithreaded environment (*shrugs* but I am not 100% sure on that since I have never used it).

Even though 8MB is a lot of data, I am really not a big fan of passing large arrays of values around by value if it is not needed, on one case I have an object which returns an array of data which it stores internally so that other object may access the information, since there is no need for multiple instances of this array (and if there was I could understand copying by value) there is no need to return the array by value either, it is just a waste, and refilling the array I imagine takes processing time.. precious processing time.

So here is a little bit of code I have worked around to allow one to return a value by reference from a function (a little trickier than passing a parameter by reference, though same basic concept is still there)

(Toggle Plain Text)

function &find_var( $param )
{
 ... your code in here...
 return $found_var;
}

$foo =& find_var( $bar );
$foo->x = 2;

One major note of interest I would like to point out is that while the function delaration had changed, the actualy "return $found_var" remained is it would be if you were returning a value (not a reference). Though I understand why, I did not expect this at first since in C++ you would have been required to return the reference with "return &value" (if you object was not already the pointer you needed).

Anyway, just thought I would reflect and share this.

Sep 5th, 2004, 4:50 PM	#1
kurifu Expert Programmer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) Posts: 784 Rep Power: 5	I have noticed that PHP has a major appolling lack of support for pointers, being an avid C++'er this can pose a bit of a nuissance, though most need for pointers has been eliminated by PHP's native support for string types, and data serialization and deserialization and dictionary support. However one problem I have noticed with this is that most web environments limit the amount of memory you are permitted to use to something about 8Mb by default, typically not a problem (more of a problem when you possibly start using Apache 2's multithreaded environment (shrugs but I am not 100% sure on that since I have never used it). Even though 8MB is a lot of data, I am really not a big fan of passing large arrays of values around by value if it is not needed, on one case I have an object which returns an array of data which it stores internally so that other object may access the information, since there is no need for multiple instances of this array (and if there was I could understand copying by value) there is no need to return the array by value either, it is just a waste, and refilling the array I imagine takes processing time.. precious processing time. So here is a little bit of code I have worked around to allow one to return a value by reference from a function (a little trickier than passing a parameter by reference, though same basic concept is still there) (Toggle Plain Text) function &find_var( $param ) { ... your code in here... return $found_var; } $foo =& find_var( $bar ); $foo->x = 2; function &find_var( $param ) { ... your code in here... return $found_var; } $foo =& find_var( $bar ); $foo->x = 2; One major note of interest I would like to point out is that while the function delaration had changed, the actualy "return $found_var" remained is it would be if you were returning a value (not a reference). Though I understand why, I did not expect this at first since in C++ you would have been required to return the reference with "return &value" (if you object was not already the pointer you needed). Anyway, just thought I would reflect and share this. __________________ Clifford Matthew Roche <geek@cliffordroche.com> Web Hosting: http://www.crd-hosting.com Consulting: http://www.crdev-consulting.com

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Programming Forums > Web Development and Design > PHP

Php Functions By Reference