How can I use an abstract class in CodeIgniter?

[eluser]php_princess[/eluser]
Overall I like CI, but I found it to be very bare bones. I had to add a MY_Controller and extend several helpers and libraries before it met my needs.

That in and of itself does not bother me, but what does concern me is how my additions may affect the efficiency, and thus speed, of my site. I know plain CI is very fast but I don't know if my additions slow it down in any significant way. I don't know if this is going to bite me in the butt when my site goes public and tons of people start using it.

How does one learn to make their extensions to CI as efficient as possible?

[eluser]apodner[/eluser]
I would recommend you benchmark and test as much as possible. As far as learning to make extensions as efficient as possible, I think you are already on the right track...stay involved in the community, bounce ideas around, and work your code down to what you truly need to get the job done.

If you are new to OO concepts, then read about things like

Single Responsibility Principle
Separation of Concerns
Decoupling
Design Patterns (e.g. MVC which is what CI is)

It is a big subject and it keeps getting bigger. I never thought of it as something that I would know, it was always something that I would just keep learning about.