Historical Results
Based on (1) saved test runs, The test labeled "variables" was (on average) the faster by 0.0031 seconds, (0.303% faster)
The variables test took 1.0083 seconds.
The constants test took 1.0113 seconds.
Nitty-Gritty
Each test case ran 20 random code order iterations consisting of 274,227 loops for a total of 5,484,540 runs.
- Line execution difference (0.000001) milliseconds.
- Avg difference (0.000) milliseconds per 274,227 loops.
- Total difference 3.06 milliseconds for 5,484,540 loops
The iteration variablity for Code 1 was (0.0000) milliseconds and Code 2 was (0.0000) milliseconds. The lower and the closer together there values are the more accurate the results are.
Code
The first test, "constants", was:
$GLOBALS['test'] = CONSTANT + 1;
The second test, "variables", was:
$GLOBALS['test'] = $GLOBALS['CONSTANT'] + 1;