尽管debug_zval_dump和ob_start在我的应用程序中太难看了，但似乎最好的答案仍然是引用计数。

相反，我用一个refcount（）函数编写了一个简单的PHP模块，可在http://github.com/qix/php_refcount获取。

你应该考虑使用有界数组作为缓存；如下所示：

<?php
class object_cache {
   var $objs = array();
   var $max_objs = 1024; // adjust to fit your use case

   function add($obj) {
      $key = $obj->getKey();
      // remove it from its old position
      unset($this->objs[$key]);
      // If the cache is full, retire the eldest from the front
      if (count($this->objs) > $this->max_objs) {
         $dead = array_shift($this->objs);
         // commit any pending changes to db/disk
         $dead->flushToStorage();
      }
      // (re-)add this item to the end
      $this->objs[$key] = $obj;
   }

   function get($key) {
      if (isset($this->objs[$key])) {
          $obj = $this->objs[$key];
          // promote to most-recently-used
          unset($this->objs[$key]);
          $this->objs[$key] = $obj;
          return $obj;
      }
      // Not cached; go and get it
      $obj = $this->loadFromStorage($key);
      if ($obj) {
          $this->objs[$key] = $obj;
      }
      return $obj;
   }
}