Raffael, object in PHP5 _are_ passed by reference. internally, objects are handles unique to a request, so all youre doing is passing a handle around. note, however, that simple variable access will _always_ be faster than method calls. this is true in C as well as PHP, except in PHP the effects are more noticeable since it is interpreted rather than compiled.
l0t3k
Just to get things straight:
<?php
class Foo
{
public $foo = "bar";
} $obj1 = new Foo;
$obj2 = $obj1;
$obj3 = $obj2;$obj2 = NULL;
echo $obj1->foo;
?>
outputs
bar
while
<?php
class Foo
{
public $foo = "bar";
} $obj1 = new Foo;
$obj2 =& $obj1;
$obj3 =& $obj2;$obj2 = NULL;
echo $obj1->foo;
?>
outputs
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /free1go/a/o/www.aoide.1go.dk/lab/bar.php5 on line 16
Hence, there is a difference between references and object handles. When you pass by reference,for instance $foo =& $bar, where $bar is an object, $foo will point to whatever $bar is pointing to. When you write $foo = $bar, $foo will point to the same object as $bar, but $foo is not forever bound to $bar, as in the first example. It simply has the same object handle. Therefore, when you delete $bar ($bar = NULL), $foo will be intact when using =, but will be set to NULL as well when using =&.
Cheers, Daniel
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