JeffreyPigarelli/PHP-Basic-MVC-Framework — comment on commit 302584810990e10e849af52aea12261cdb2d2110
File: framework/Load.php line 22
By gsdevme:

In regards to changing johns code to include instead of require_once its not the case that require_once is realistically slower then include, you also have the problem that require !== include, they are very different by using include your saying at runtime you know for 100% that all the files are 'includeable' whereas require you have a last line of defence in terms of if the file cant be included the application will die.

It was the case with PHP 5.2- that require & require_once was very slow this however isn't much of a case within PHP 5.3/5.4+