Question

Consider

<a href="<?php echo $url;?>"><?php echo $name;?></a>

and compare with

<?php echo "<a href=\"{$url}\">{$name}</a>";?>

then consider hundreds of these in different variations on the same page.

Does one or the other convention affect
performance in any way or is it just a matter of preference?

Answer 1

This question has been addressed quite well before: Opening/closing tags & performance?

In brief, here is the answer:

3 simple rules for you to get it right:

 - No syntax issue can affect performance. Data manipulation does.
 - Speak of performance only backed with results of profiling.
 - Premature optimization is the root of all evil