[thelist] [ot] Mac Antivirus

[Maximillian Schwanekamp]

Sorry for the OT post.  A Mac-using client has finally moved to OS X, 
and is wondering about antivirus software, anything but Norton (her 
req).  Any enthusastic recommendations?  Replies offlist, please.

<tip type="Use References in Object instantiation in PHP" author="Max 
Schwanekamp">

When you pass a variable in PHP, by default PHP creates a copy of it. 
So when you instantiate an object like this:
$foo = new Bar();
PHP instantiates Bar, and creates a copy of it when passing it to $foo, 
so that $foo and the result of new Bar() have equivalent values (but 
sepearate).

Generally this is no big deal, but if Bar is a fairly large object, this 
can create some unnecessary overhead.  Simple solution, pass by 
reference instead:
$foo =& new Bar();
That little ampersand says that $foo and new Bar() refer to the exact 
same object, avoiding the need for a copy to be created.  (btw, most 
code uses "= &new" instead of "=& new".  Result is the same.)
</tip>

-- 
Maximillian Von Schwanekamp
http://www.neptunewebworks.com/