Execution Times/Modules

Hi,

I am encoutering the following performance problem with php 3.0.16, the latest apache, running with compiled in php_mod on a sun ultra1.

i have written a set of php class files, which i use througout the site. the execution time of my skripts is very fast, but it seems that the class files i require (about 30k) slow down the performance enourmously. when i benchmark the site using ab with a php file which simply does html output and nothing else. its really fast, if i require my class files and do nothing else than the html output, the performance drops incredibly (no db connection, no computation, nothing)

i always thought that php_mod also keeps a byte code for the required pages in memory (like for example perl_mod). but now i doubt that. it seems that every request, forces php_mod to reload and recompile (or totally interpret ?!?!??) every file needed.

is there anyway to increase performance when using multiple phpclass files ??? I know of conditional includes, but thats IMHO not a pretty solution.

thanx a lot vor your help

regards joe