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Development Tools Using PHP with MySQL Querying the Database with PHP Avoiding Duplication

Posted by Sean Lum
Sean Lum
11,949 Points

Does the act of defining constants create a global level security vulnerability?

I understand that in sophisticated programming, encapsulation and obfuscation are important when creating secure applications. So wouldn't this be a bad practice?

1 Answer

Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw
26,676 Points
Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw
26,676 Points

Hi Sean,

Constants are a lot like variables, the key difference is you can only define constants once meaning they are somewhat more secure than a variable since you can alter it's data at any point in time.

I recommend you have a look at the wp-config.php file in WordPress as it uses constants numerous times throughout it's code base which hasn't contributed to any vulnerabilities once in it's lifetime as a blogging system.

Hope that helps.