Chx, reading this link you reference says to me that there should be no speed advantage in PHP 4+ for passing in an array in as a reference *unless* you're modifying an element of the array. If you modify and return the array, it seems this will take more memory and computation than passing it in by reference (e.g. hook_form_alter) ? -Peter From: "Karoly Negyesi" <karoly@negyesi.net> To: development@drupal.org Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:15:40 +0100 (CET) Subject: Re: [development] Open season for references

References have a place in programming and do help with performance when dealing with large objects or arrays.

Wrong on arrays. http://web.archive.org/web/20060427154547/http://www.zend.com/zend/art/ref-c... Objects in PHP4 yes but while we want Drupal working still on PHP4, it's not a preference or priority any more at least for me. So if there is a minuscule performance penalty 'cos ancient PHP versions copy around objects so be it. As said, if I find the need for more advanced array function, I will use them and reimplement them for PHP4.