Looping in function or multiple calling the function, what is faster?

Question

Hi, basicly I've got an array and want to call the same function for each element. Which way is it faster?

foreach($elemeents as $element){
    callFunction($element);
}

OR

function callFunction($leements){
    foreach($elements as $element){
        //do something
    }
}

thanx in advance, im just a beginner

Answer 1

This is the kind of micro-optimization that most likely does not matter. Do whatever leads to cleaner code.

If you know (know, not guess) that this specific piece of code is causing performance problems, then the second alternative is almost certainly slightly faster.

Answer 2

They are essentially the same, and any time execution difference will be negliable. It comes down to preference.

Answer 3

Probably slightly faster with the loop inside the function, as there is a (slight) cost to each function call. However, it won't make much difference.

This is really premature optimization, and the root of all evil.

You should write it so it is clear, then if it's too slow, figure out where it's slow and optimize that.

Answer 4

I dont think there would be much of a difference between the two anyway, but from what I recollect of function stack calling, the first method should take longer.

Answer 5

In every language I know, using loops is faster, because of the operations involved when calling a function (like adding it to the stack).

However, you should not think about the performance before the actual performance issues arise. Think in terms of design, code clarity, and low maintenance efforts.

Answer 6

In short: The second one should be faster.

In detail: When a function is called, the function arguments, local variables and the return address is pushed on the internal stack and popped off the stack when the function call is done. That means your first variant will cause these stack operations for every value in your array while the second variant will only cause these stack operations once.