The memory footprint of some global vals

[Sims]

Hi,

Just like phpBB i have a fairly large language section.

For those of you who do not know it there is a global array variable $lang
and it contains translations of many word used all over the place.
For example
$lang['hello'] = 'Hello';
$lang['bye']='Goodbye';
....and so on

but that array contains a few hundred entries, most of them are not used in
the everyday use of the site.

How big of a problem could that be in terms of memory? Does php load that
array everytime a new user queries a page or is the array shared between all
the processes?
Would there be a better way of doing it that would not be so heavy on the
memory?

Regards.

Sims

[CountScubula]

if it is in an include file, chances are the files is in cached in ram, and
generaly speaking, the data is not a shared memory object, it can be one
memory object shared by all proccesses, but there is a good chance its not.

to ease the load, in either case just put $100 in memory and call it a day.

--
Mike Bradley
http://www.gzentools.com -- free online php tools
"Sims" <si*********@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c0*************@ID-162430.news.uni-berlin.de...

Hi,

Just like phpBB i have a fairly large language section.

For those of you who do not know it there is a global array variable $lang
and it contains translations of many word used all over the place.
For example
$lang['hello'] = 'Hello';
$lang['bye']='Goodbye';
...and so on

but that array contains a few hundred entries, most of them are not used in the everyday use of the site.

How big of a problem could that be in terms of memory? Does php load that
array everytime a new user queries a page or is the array shared between all the processes?
Would there be a better way of doing it that would not be so heavy on the
memory?

Regards.

Sims

[Sims]

if it is in an include file, chances are the files is in cached in ram, and generaly speaking, the data is not a shared memory object, it can be one
memory object shared by all proccesses, but there is a good chance its not.
to ease the load, in either case just put $100 in memory and call it a day.

Thanks, but it is not a case of money, more a case of me wanting to learn
how it works.
If i can prevent the 'over' use of memory that would be better programming i
think.

It is a include file.
I just wanted to know the inner workings of php and how global variables are
affecting my memory.

BTW i do not use $, (NZ, CAN, US or AUS whichever you were referring to).

Regards,
Sims

[CountScubula]

"Sims" <si*********@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c0*************@ID-162430.news.uni-berlin.de...

if it is in an include file, chances are the files is in cached in ram, and

generaly speaking, the data is not a shared memory object, it can be one
memory object shared by all proccesses, but there is a good chance its

not.

to ease the load, in either case just put $100 in memory and call it a

day.

Thanks, but it is not a case of money, more a case of me wanting to learn
how it works.
If i can prevent the 'over' use of memory that would be better programming

i think.

It is a include file.
I just wanted to know the inner workings of php and how global variables are affecting my memory.

BTW i do not use $, (NZ, CAN, US or AUS whichever you were referring to).

Regards,
Sims

sorry, I was not insuating it was a case of money, my apologies. (oh, and
the $=US, sorry, I forget this is read all over the world)

With scripting, it is a slightly differnt animal compared to
compiling/binary programming. some times in scripting it is the easyier
route that shall prevail.

Now I do undstand your curiosity.

It is possible with php to create a shared memory object (works like a file)
that would hold all items in your lang definitions, then this can be
available to all proccess.

But becouse we are dealing with more than just the PHP interpeter, such as
the OS, file system, I have found that included files that are used in every
single script (such as variable definitions/configs) tend to get cached by
the OS into memory, granted, they go from their cached copy to a new copy
for each process, it is rather fast. Also with less overhead on the
programming side of the fence. With the expense of a bit more memory, it
just be comes an include, but with it as as shared memory object, you then
have code to access such object, and a bit more complexity.

It is my opinion, that sometimes, an easier to read/modify script is a faste
r/econamical slotution. Now I am not advicating sloppy coding skills, In
fact, I come from a background where I would have to cram in an OS,
aplication, and data into a 2K ROM chip, not fun, but made for some crafy
coding (whitch I do miss sometimes)

Well, sorry to ramble on, I know I probly didn't answer your question, but I
hope I brought up some stuff to ponder.

--
Mike Bradley
http://www.gzentools.com -- free online php tools

[Sims]

Regards,
Sims
sorry, I was not insuating it was a case of money, my apologies. (oh, and
the $=US, sorry, I forget this is read all over the world)

No worries, :)

It is possible with php to create a shared memory object (works like a file) that would hold all items in your lang definitions, then this can be
available to all proccess.
But would it really be better.

But becouse we are dealing with more than just the PHP interpeter, such as
the OS, file system, I have found that included files that are used in every single script (such as variable definitions/configs) tend to get cached by
the OS into memory, granted, they go from their cached copy to a new copy
for each process, it is rather fast. Also with less overhead on the
programming side of the fence. With the expense of a bit more memory, it
just be comes an include, but with it as as shared memory object, you then
have code to access such object, and a bit more complexity.
I see,

It is my opinion, that sometimes, an easier to read/modify script is a faste r/econamical slotution. Now I am not advicating sloppy coding skills, In
fact, I come from a background where I would have to cram in an OS,
aplication, and data into a 2K ROM chip, not fun, but made for some crafy
coding (whitch I do miss sometimes)
I also had the pleasure of putting 16k code on the chip of some credit card
companies.
A similar challenge in itself.

Well, sorry to ramble on, I know I probly didn't answer your question, but I hope I brought up some stuff to ponder.
You did, thanks.

--
Mike Bradley

Sims