title: in PHP, which is faster - reading a file or a database call?
body: <p>I've a web app built in PHP with Zend on a LAMP stack. I have a list of 4000 words I need to load into memory. The words have categories and other attributes, and I need to load the whole collection every time. Think of a dictionary object.</p>
  
  <p>What's the best way to store it for quick recall? A flat file with something like XML, JSON or a serialized object? A database record with a big chunk of XML, JSON or a serialized object? Or 4000 records in a database table?</p>
  
  <p>I realize different server configs will make a difference, but assume an out-of-the-box shared hosting plan, or WAMP locally or some other simple setup.</p>