[Resolved] Please Explain Memory in Online Envoronment

[BigE]

This is a very basic question but for some reason I can't wrap my head around it.

I am a little confused as to how memory works when dealing with an online program.

If an array is defined and accessed in your php code, then does that array reside in the server's memory at runtime, or the client's?

If it resides in the server's memory then if multiple people are accessing multiple pages on a server, wouldn't it run out of memory very quickly? Furthermore, would each page have a certain amount of memory allocated to it so that sloppy coding on one person's page wouldn't use memory required by another person's page? When is the memory freed? Is it automatic when the script completes, or does it have to be freed by the coder?

Thanks,

E

[Roger_Ramjet]

PHP runs on the server so all code is executed there and all data passes through its memory. Yes, it could quickly run out of memory so the operating system uses 'virtual memory': disk space to cache parts of the contents of memory which are idle, eg a task waiting for results from a db. Each running process (page, script, etc) is dynamically allocated space in memory and this space is reclaimed when the process finishes. You can release memory during the execution of your script and it pays to do so as it will need less paging.

[BigE]

Thanks. That makes sense.

-E