Static variable for optimization
- by keithjgrant
I'm wondering if I can use a static variable for optimization:
public function Bar() {
static $i = moderatelyExpensiveFunctionCall();
if ($i) {
return something();
} else {
return somethingElse();
}
}
I know that once $i is initialized, it won't be changed by by that line of code on successive calls to Bar(). I assume this means that moderatelyExpensiveFunctionCall() won't be evaluated every time I call, but I'd like to know for certain.
Once PHP sees a static variable that has been initialized, does it skip over that line of code? In other words, is this going to optimize my execution time if I make a lot of calls to Bar(), or am I wasting my time?
