php引用在处理大数组或多数组时是个好主意吗

最后我有话要问社区

我的例子是：我有一些带有内部数组的类似盒子的对象，我希望在方法中操作这些数组，但在合并操作后，捐赠盒子必须为空。我目前使用引用是为了不复制大数组，但我最近刚刚看到一篇很棒的帖子：不要使用php引用。

class Box implements MadeUpArrayLikeInterfaces {
  protected $v = array();
  ...
  public function __clone() {
    foreach ($this->v as &$v) {// correct the mess left behind the cloning process?
      if (is_object($v)) $v = clone $v;// perhaps I shouldn't deep clone anything?
    }
  }
  public function merge() {
    $boxes = func_get_args();// variable argument list
    arary_unshift($boxes,$this->v);
    array_walk(array($this,'walkUnwrap'),$boxes);// prepare input, allow only arrays
    $this->v = call_user_func('array_merge',array_filter($boxes));// merge
  }
  public function import(self $box) {// edited to make more sense
    $this->v = array_merge($this->v,$box->v);// do the merge
    $box->v  = array();
  }
  public function export() {
    $e = array();   // empty array that may be referenced
    $r =& $this->v; // avoid copying for return
    $this->v =& $e; // point to empty because assignment would erase $r as well
    return $r;      // return contents
  }
  private static function walkUnwrap(&$v) {// walks on argument list
    if ($v instanceof self && $v->v) {// if element is Box, export it
      $e = array();
      $o = $v;    // save reference to the Box
      $v =& $v->v;// pass the data
      $o->v =& $e;// this box should now be empty
    } elseif (!is_array($v)) $v = null;// if it's anything but array get rid of it
  }
}

所以现在我想知道我的方法是否真的正确。这些操作是否按照帖子中的规定"书写"，因此最好使用参考资料？这些是复制值吗？

谢谢大家

edited：事实上，我很粗心，导入函数要简单得多，我有一个更好的函数，它还使用了一些引用，这些引用可能有助于显示