Historical Results
Based on (1) saved test runs, The test labeled "constants" was (on average) the faster by 0.004 seconds, (0.438% faster)
The constants test took 0.9124 seconds.
The variables test took 0.9164 seconds.
Nitty-Gritty
Each test case ran 20 random code order iterations consisting of 206,336 loops for a total of 4,126,720 runs.
- Line execution difference (0.000001) milliseconds.
- Avg difference (0.000) milliseconds per 206,336 loops.
- Total difference 4.01 milliseconds for 4,126,720 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;