Re: Many Small Files or Larger Utility Files

Stephen wrote: > I have made a number of web sites using PHP and mySQL. These included > a control panel for adding and maintaining content. > > I am stepping up and creating a site that will require sessions, > private areas and user registration functions. > > I have looked at samples and note that they all use many small files. > I see that as being difficult to manage. > > But I have also looked at the code for a PHP bulletin board. Many, > many small files, so I see that it is a common practise. But I see it > as complicated and difficult to manage. > > For my control panel code I have all the routines, about 10, to > process POSTS in one file. It works fine. > > Now activity is low, but that will also be the case with my new site. > > So my question: Is small, single function, files the best practise, or > I am just fine in combing many functions into larger "library" files. > > Thank you for your thoughts. I recently investigated a performance problem for a customer. He was using a CMS written in PHP, perfectly fine, but requests took much too long to serve. In the end I determined that each request needed to read some 200 files which took 600ms on a single-user machine, somewhat longer in the shared, redundant environment. I would not call "small, single function, files" the best practice, but how you manage your project is mostly up to you. -- Per Jessen, Zürich (15.5°C) http://www.dns24.ch/ - free dynamic DNS, made in Switzerland.