RE: [PHP] Is this a dream?

> -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Lynch [mailto:richard@zend.com] > Sent: 12 December 2000 19:24 > To: php-general@lists.php.net > Subject: Re: [PHP] Is this a dream? > > > > Could be, but Zend only optimizes the code (or something in that way, > sorry, > > but I'm not a Zend expert) ... in any case, it doesn't compile the PHP > code > > and loads it into the memory.... that way, PHP scripts can become faster > > than C :) > > The Zend Optimizer only optimizes the code -- but the other Zend products > will do much more. > > I don't think a PHP script will ever be "faster than C" -- if you are > willing to code in C and compile it into your httpd by hand, I'm sure you > could still beat PHP's raw performance. > > But you'd either have to a be a masochist, a student wanting to > learn, or a > real hardcore C hacker with a buttload of knowledge about Apache and 50 > other arcane software packages to even come close to the convenience and > ease of PHP -- and with the Cache, it gets pretty darned fast to C speeds. Or just someone that *needs* to serve dynamic pages that eat your petty quad xeon for lunch. Scripted languages like php are a blessing for programmers, they allow us to create powerful web based applications at little cost. But do not overestimate it, there is a cost, and there are projects out there that are better done in C/C++ because 1) they have high computational needs 2) they are memory intensive (well written C/C++ uses a fraction of the memory a similar php program) or 3) require things beyond the realm of php like process management, or even threading. (In which case its obvious that we're not talking about apache modules anymore, but rather self containing applications with built-in webservers (easy to do) or modules for other webservers.) But very few people will probably see these kinds of projects :) -S