PHP optimization question; move assignment operation so it only runs when necessary?

@TODO: See if this construct is the same in development versions of content.module and ask if it would not be more efficient to move the $node = $form['#node']; line inside the if statement (or simply replace $node in there with the longer version) and so save a PHP copy operation when it is not necessary.

<?php
/**
 *  Implementation of hook_form_alter().
 */
function content_form_alter($form_id, &$form) {
  if (isset($form['type'])) {
    $node = $form['#node'];
    if ($form['type']['#value'] .'_node_form' == $form_id) {
      $form = array_merge($form, content_form($node));
    }
  }
}
?>

Resolution