PHP Performance

200. Zend Optimizer+ Cache in PHP 5.5 and MySQL 5.6 Performance Improvements - Lately in PHP podcast episode 32

Posted on: 2013-02-07

MySQL 5.6 GA version is finally available for download. One of its main features is the new NoSQL interface to access tables much faster than using SQL via a connection compatible of memcached.

MySQL 5.6 speed improvements and how it affects PHP applications was one of the main topics discussed by Manuel Lemos and Ernani Joppert on the episode 32 of the Lately in PHP podcast.

They also commented on the eventual adoption of the Zend Optimizer+ as the PHP code caching extension that may be shipping with PHP 5.5 as alternative to APC, the implications of this to the PHP community.

Other topics discussed in the podcast include the switch of OpenSuSE and Fedora Linux distributions from Oracle MySQL to MariaDB MySQL fork, the use of test driven development in the Zurmo PHP Open Source CRM, using advanced HTML5 based animations to get the attention of site users, and the launch of the JavaScript Innovation Award that just happened in the JSClasses site.

Listen to the podcast audio, or watch the podcast video, or read the podcast transcript to learn more about the details of these and other interesting topics.

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196. Will PHP 6 feature a JIT compiler? Lately in PHP podcast episode 30

Posted on: 2012-12-10

Now that Facebook made some progress with their PHP HipHop VM JIT compiler engine, some PHP core developers are considering having also a JIT compiler implementation of the official implementation based on LLVM, eventually in PHP 6.

That was one of the main topics discussed by Manuel Lemos and César Rodas in the episode 30 of the Lately in PHP podcast.

They also commented on the first alpha release of PHP 5.5.0, proposals for having pure interfaces in the PHP core, the Facebook PHP JIT compiler enhancements, and the new system of levels and missions of the PHPClasses and JSClasses sites.

Listen the podcast, or watch the podcast video, or read the transcript to learn about these and interesting discussion of PHP matters.

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191. Accelerating PHP 5.4 with updated PHP cache extensions - Lately in PHP podcast episode 26

Posted on: 2012-08-02

Despite PHP 5.4 was released some time ago, only now PHP caching extensions like eAccelerator and APC are being adapted to work with PHP 5.4.

This was one of several topics discussed in the episode 26 of the Lately in PHP podcast on which Manuel Lemos received Michael Kimsal as guest co-host.

The also discussed the latest PHP 5.4.5 and PHP 5.3.15 releases, the planned implementation of generators and the yield keyword in PHP 5.5, the usability problems of the current Web browsers, and the upcoming Indieconf 2012, the independent Web professionals conference.

Listen to the podcast audio, or watch the podcast in video, or read the transcript to learn more about these and other interesting PHP topics.

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189. The 7 Main Optimizations of PHP 5.4 - Lately in PHP podcast episode 25

Posted on: 2012-07-04

The PHP 5.4 includes 7 main optimizations that made PHP work more efficiently in terms of the speed and memory usage efficiency.

That is the main topic discussed in episode 25 of the Lately in PHP podcast on which Manuel Lemos received Gustavo Lopes, a PHP core developer.

Listen to the podcast, watch the podcast video or read the transcript to learn more about these and other interesting PHP topics discussed on this episode.

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187. The Secret PHP Optimization of version 5.4

Posted on: 2012-06-14

PHP 5.4 introduced several performance optimizations. One of them was not discussed much in the PHP community but it may affect the performance of your code depending on the way you write it.

Read this article to learn more about this less known PHP 5.4 optimization and what you need to do to make your PHP code take advantage of this optimization to run faster spending less memory.

The article also talks about a speculation of what PHP 6 and Zend Engine 3 can be in the future using explicitly declared types of variables and function return values to generate code that makes PHP applications run much faster.

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183. Will it ever Matter if PHP Sucks? - Lately in PHP podcast episode 23

Posted on: 2012-05-07

Once in a while we see fans of other languages writing long articles on why PHP sucks and you should not use it. But will that ever matter?

That is one of the main topics discussed by Manuel Lemos and Ernani Joppert in the episode 23 of the Lately in PHP podcast, for the first time also recorded in video using Google Hangouts On Air.

They also covered other polemic ideas for future PHP versions like the pure PHP script proposal, making function names case-sensitive and the option to skip optional function parameters.

Another interesting topic discussed in this podcast is about the proposals for HTTP 2.0 protocol.

Listen to the podcast, watch the video recording or read the transcript to learn about these and other interesting PHP related topics.

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182. Making the Web Faster with HTTP 2 Protocol

Posted on: 2012-05-03

The HTTP protocol version 2.0 is in the process of being defined. There was a call for proposals and several researchers submitted specifications and ideas that can make the Web faster and better in several other aspects.

Read this article to learn about the details of these proposals and what Web developers can expect to prepare to take advantage of the planned improvements of the HTTP 2.0 protocol.

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170. The Debate of Making PHP Faster using a JIT Compiler - Lately in PHP podcast episode 19

Posted on: 2012-01-05

The official PHP implementation is evolving too slowly, while alternative implementations like Phalanger and Facebook HipHop can run PHP faster thanks to the use of JIT compiler engines.

JIT compilation was the main topic of the episode 19 of the Lately in PHP podcast presented by Manuel Lemos and Ernani Joppert who received as guests Miloslav Beno of the Phalanger team and Nuno Lopes of the PECL LLVM project to discuss this and other interesting topics of the PHP scene.

They also made a brief retrospective of what happened in the PHP world in 2011 and what they expect for 2012.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript here.

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168. Can .NET make PHP run faster than the official PHP implementation?

Posted on: 2011-12-15

Phalanger is compiler that generates .NET assemblies from PHP code, so it runs in a .NET virtual machine.

The latest benchmarks seem to indicate that PHP applications compiled by Phalanger execute noticeably faster than when they are executed by the official PHP implementation based on Zend engine, even when a caching extension is used.

Read this article to learn how Phalanger works and what lessons can be learned to make the official PHP implementation run at least as fast, eventually in PHP 6 based on Zend Engine 3.

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155. Top 10 Wrong Ideas About PHP That You Should Get Right

Posted on: 2011-08-18

PHP is often a misunderstood language by people that either love or hate it.

On one side there are developers that hate PHP apparently because they do not quite understand how it works. They do not respect PHP and prefer other languages. So they lose many opportunities to make good money from the PHP market, which has so many high paying jobs for qualified developers.

On the other side there are developers that love PHP but do not take full advantage of the language because they are not fully aware of all they can do with it.

This article attempts to clarify some of the most common wrong ideas that many developers have about PHP.

Read the article to the end, so you may eventually start having a better perspective about PHP and take advantage of the opportunities that this language and the PHP ecosystem can provide you.

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