Speed of mysql vs. associative arrays.

[icehawg]

When running a large script, (30Kb file with numerous functions) I grab all the information I will need from the database on my first connection to the database and load it all into various associative arrays.

Then, for the rest of the script, I pull the information from the arrays when I need it. (ie. $array['value-I-want']) Some of the pieces of information are referenced dozens of times so I have to keep grabbing the information from the array.

However lately I have been wondering if maybe my script would execute more quickly if I dropped the associative arrays, and just use a generic "select_value($db, $tab, $val, $whe)" function to grab the values on the fly, as opposed to pre-loading them all into the arrays.

Does anyone have any thoughts/information about which scenario is faster?

Thanks.

[devinemke]

I have not done any testing on this but my general rule of thumb is to have as few calls to the db as possible. Grab all the data that you are going to need once then use your arrays.

[icehawg]

Thanks. I will work at slashing my code up...I must be doing something else wrong that is eating up the time. Thanks again.

[Weedpacket]

I haven't done any testing either, but it seems almost certain that the associative array method will be faster.

Making multiple calls to the database would require PHP to connect to the database, send it a suitably-formatted query, MySQL to run the query, send back its resultset, which PHP then has to format into its internal form, from which you would then have to extract results (probably as arrays). That last step in particular is a giveaway - if you end up using arrays anyway, where is the time saving?