My default wp-config.php and why WP_UPLOAD_PATH and WP_UPLOAD_URL are logical constants

gistfile1.aw

<?php
/**
 * The base configurations of the WordPress.
 *
 * This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
 * Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
 * by visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
 * wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
 *
 * This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
 * installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
 * to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */


// Get the host
$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];

// Define the site base
$site_base = 'websitename.com';

// Wordpress installation subdirectory
$install_dir = 'wp';

if( $host === 'local.' . $site_base || $host === 'localhost:8888' ){

	// Enable debugging
	define('WP_DEBUG', true);

	// Create a variable to identify what the environment is 
	define('WP_ENV', 'local');
	
	// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
	/** The name of the database for WordPress */
	define('DB_NAME', '');

	/** MySQL database username */
	define('DB_USER', '');

	/** MySQL database password */
	define('DB_PASSWORD', '');

	/** MySQL hostname */
	define('DB_HOST', '');
	
	// Define the Home URL ( the url of the home page) 
	define('WP_HOME','http://local.' . $site_base);
	
	// Define the Site URL (the url of the WordPress installation)
	define('WP_SITEURL','http://local.' . $site_base . '/' . $install_dir . '/');

	// Define the uploads URL 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_URL','http://dev.' . $site_base . '/uploads');

	// Define the uploads path 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_PATH',  '../uploads');

	// Enable WP CACHE
	define('WP_CACHE', false);
	
} elseif( $host === 'dev.' . $site_base ){

	// Enable debugging
	define('WP_DEBUG', true);

	// Create a variable to identify what the environment is 
	define('WP_ENV', 'dev');
		
	// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
	/** The name of the database for WordPress */
	define('DB_NAME', '');

	/** MySQL database username */
	define('DB_USER', '');

	/** MySQL database password */
	define('DB_PASSWORD', '');

	/** MySQL hostname */
	define('DB_HOST', '');
	
	// Define the Home URL ( the url of the home page) 
	define('WP_HOME','http://dev.' . $site_base);
	
	// Define the Site URL (the url of the WordPress installation)
	define('WP_SITEURL','http://dev.' . $site_base . '/' . $install_dir . '/');

	// Define the uploads URL 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_URL','http://dev.' . $site_base . '/uploads');

	// Define the uploads path 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_PATH',  '../uploads');

	// Enable WP CACHE
	define('WP_CACHE', false);
	
} elseif( $host === 'staging.' . $site_base ){

	// Enable debugging
	define('WP_DEBUG', true);

	// Create a variable to identify what the environment is 
	define('WP_ENV', 'staging');
		
	// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
	/** The name of the database for WordPress */
	define('DB_NAME', '');
	
	/** MySQL database username */
	define('DB_USER', '');
	
	/** MySQL database password */
	define('DB_PASSWORD', '');
	
	/** MySQL hostname */
	define('DB_HOST', '');
	
	// Define the Home URL ( the url of the home page) 
	define('WP_HOME','http://staging.' . $site_base);
	
	// Define the Site URL (the url of the WordPress installation)
	define('WP_SITEURL','http://staging.' . $site_base . '/' . $install_dir . '/');

	// Define the uploads URL 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_URL','http://www.' . $site_base . '/uploads');

	// Define the uploads path 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_PATH',  '../uploads');

	// Enable WP CACHE
	define('WP_CACHE', false);
	
} elseif( $host === $site_base || $host === 'www.' . $site_base ){

	// Disable debugging
	define('WP_DEBUG', false);
	
	// Create a variable to identify what the environment is 
	define('WP_ENV', 'live');

	// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
	/** The name of the database for WordPress */
	define('DB_NAME', '');
	
	/** MySQL database username */
	define('DB_USER', '');
	
	/** MySQL database password */
	define('DB_PASSWORD', '');
	
	/** MySQL hostname */
	define('DB_HOST', '');
	
	// Define the Home URL ( the url of the home page) 
	define('WP_HOME','http://www.' . $site_base);
	
	// Define the Site URL (the url of the WordPress installation)
	define('WP_SITEURL','http://www.' . $site_base . '/' . $install_dir . '/');

	// Define the uploads URL 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_URL','http://www.' . $site_base . '/uploads');

	// Define the uploads path 
	define('WP_UPLOADS_PATH',  '../uploads');

	// Enable WP CACHE
	define('WP_CACHE', true);
	
}

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

/**#@+
 * Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
 *
 * Change these to different unique phrases!
 * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
 * You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
 *
 * @since 2.6.0
 */
define('AUTH_KEY',         '');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  '');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    '');
define('NONCE_KEY',        '');
define('AUTH_SALT',        '');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', '');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   '');
define('NONCE_SALT',       '');

/**#@-*/

/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
 * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix  = 'wp_';

/**
 * WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English.
 *
 * Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen
 * language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
 * de_DE.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de_DE' to enable German
 * language support.
 */
define('WPLANG', '');

/**
 * For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
 *
 * Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
 * It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
 * in their development environments.
 */
//define('WP_DEBUG', false);

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
	define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');

My Typical WordPress Setup

• The WordPress installation is stored in a subdirectory. Security through obscurity (although it's a proven myth, I still don't like people easily finding out where my WP installation is located)
• There are four environments: local, dev, staging and live.
• Local and dev typically share the same database. Staging and live share the same database. I make no effort to sync these two databases.
• Content and media is only added to WordPress via the control panels of the dev and live environments. Doing this allows me to have the same upload files for my (local + dev) and (staging + live) environments.

awesome