Re: resources vs objects?

Wez Furlong wrote:

Resources are the traditional approach for mapping an arbitrary pointer to PHP space, managing its lifetime safely. PHP 5 OO support allows for similar things, but maps the pointer as a PHP object. They're similar in some ways, but different in others. The biggest functional difference (aside from OO) is that you can't create persistent objects (ala mysql_pconnect())--you have to use resources for that. It's usually faster to write a procedural extension using resources than it is to write an OO extension using PHP 5 objects, although the latter can be more accessible to the consumers of your extension. Resources: work with PHP 4. Can be persistent.

Objects:      work with PHP 5 and up.

There is no hard and fast rule about which one you choose; just use the one the makes most sense for the task at hand.

ah, much clearer now, thanks.