Two ways for accessing android string resources

Question

I'm trying to figure out the difference between accessing android string resources. The following quote is not clear to me:

Access by referene is fast

Direct access is slow

access by reference means: setTitle(R.string.title)

direct access means: setTitle(getResources().getString(R.string.title))

Now I've run some speed tests on the android emulator:

access by reference:

for(int i = 0; i< 100000; i++) {
    setTitle(R.string.app_name);
}

This took 5090 milliseconds. In contrast I run the same code, using direct access:

for(int i = 0; i< 100000; i++) {
    setTitle(getResources().getString(R.string.app_name));
}

This took 5191 milliseconds. I tested this with Android 4.2.2.

So for me it looks a lot like it doesn't matter which way I use the resources. Did this matter in earlier android versions? Does this matter on real devices? In other words: Does it matter which access I choose?

If more parameters of my testing are needed, I'm happy to give them. Thank you for taking the time, appreciate it a lot.

Answer 1

Just look at the code :

(in Activity)

public void setTitle(int titleId) {
    setTitle(getText(titleId));
}

(in Context)

public final CharSequence getText(int resId) {
    return getResources().getText(resId);
}

So basically, it is exactly the same thing.

What is much slower, however, is if you use Resource.getIdentifier(String, String, String) to find the ids of your resources.