Re: PHP Just-In-Time Compiler

Phalanger might be of interest to you.. Compiles PHP to MSIL, which then compiles to machine code JIT.. Works pretty good really.. http://www.php-compiler.net http://www.codeplex.com/Phalanger -- // DvDmanDT mail: dvdmandt¤telia.com msn: dvdmandt¤hotmail.com "Jacob Santos" <dragonwing@dragonu.net> skrev i meddelandet news:BD.A5.39663.C8A3FE54@pb1.pair.com... > Has anyone tried this or know of anyone who is interested in implementing > this for the Zend Engine? I tried searching the archives and didn't find > anything on this topic. (Would Google help? No, only turns up some > commercial PHP compiler for PHP 4.x. > > I believe it is possible currently using the Zend Engine and working it > either on top of APC or in place of APC. It would quite possibly help if I > ventured further into the Zend Engine and looked at APC source. > > Researching the topic has bought forth a very complex subject matter, > which I suppose is one reason why it hasn't been implemented yet. It is > easier (yes?) to compile to opcode and then interpret that or compile > directly to machine code than building a JIT for all known CPU > architectures (there goes two long years! More if I try to implement it > and I do plan on trying... and will fail at it, but it should be > interesting and fun to say the least). > > The reason why I ask is after looking at speed comparsions, PHP does > appear to fall behind even Ruby and Python. It is becoming difficult to > justify continuing coding using PHP based on what would appear to be > objective speed results. They perhaps, might not of used the APC or > optimizer in the speed comparisons. > > Discussions with my teacher on the subject matter further proved my > assertion that PHP would be better served with JIT compiler than APC > (Sorry! Sad but true). I will try to justify my statement and let more > intelligent people of this mailing list beat me down, if the case is that > I'm wrong. > > Native Machine code will always be quicker than interpreting Opcode (I > would so much assume that the PHP engine interprets and takes action upon > the passed Opcode to the engine using APC). The reason from my research is > that, well, you are passing the opcode through a layer before hitting the > CPU whereas the machine code can pass directly to the CPU. Also machine > code does not need to be interpreted by the machine and saves from that > overhead. > > It is possible to keep the PHP engine in control, while still running the > JIT compilation. Little fuzzy on exactly how this would work. Would the > compiled PHP script call PHP Engine, or would the PHP Engine call the > compiled PHP script, or keeping it all in memory and somehow combining the > two? Assembler seems quite fascinating, as well as learning other tidbits > about compiling and languages I did not know before. > > Two possible open source projects that would speed the process up > considerably are GNU Lightning (http://www.gnu.org/software/lightning/) > and YASM, the library not the compiler > (http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/wiki). GNU Lightning seems to be the > "best" choice from reading the brief description as it would work for most > architectures (Apple included), which would work for PHP best interest as > it is available for many platforms. From my reading, YASM library only > works for x86 and x86-64 architectures. Lightning is also made for JIT, > and therefore fits better for quick testing and deployment. > > I'm not asking for anyone to take the project up, just what you think of > me doing something like this and your opinion on the merits of JIT > compiling.