Historical Results
Based on (4) saved test runs, The test labeled "constants" was (on average) the faster by 0.028 seconds, (3.372% faster)
The constants test took 0.802 seconds.
The variables test took 0.83 seconds.
Nitty-Gritty
Each test case ran 20 random code order iterations consisting of 214,844 loops for a total of 4,296,875 runs.
- Line execution difference (0.000007) milliseconds.
- Avg difference (0.000) milliseconds per 214,844 loops.
- Total difference 27.98 milliseconds for 4,296,875 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;