PHP Speed Vs Other Languages

Question

I have heard a lot that PHP is slow compared other languages. Is the speed difference noticeable enough that I should switch to another language? And if so what other language would you recommend? Or what would be some good optimizations that could speed up the PHP?

Answer 1

This question comes up a lot. The answer is:

• Yes it's slower than C#, Java, C/C++, etc.
• No it probably won't matter.

You can build large scale PHP systems. 4 of the top 20 visited Websites are powered by PHP (Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Flickr). PHP with an opcode cache (eg APC) can take you much further than you'll probably need or care about.

Most slow Websites have nothing to do with the language they're using. A lot of the time spent on an HTTP request comes down to network latency, absent or ineffectual caching of static resources, lack of compression resulting in more bandwidth used than necessary, poorly performning Javascript and so on.

If you get really desperate for performance you can always use HipHop, which compiles PHP to C++.

Answer 2

PHP will be plenty fast enough for web site applications if you use best practices.

If you compare PHP to, say C++, of course it will be slower. But you need to consider total cost of development. Just because one language produces faster programs doesn't mean it will be more cost effective. Depending on your programming style, experience, and the project you are working on, you may find that a different language is better suited for the task.

If you use an opcode cache, you will get a very big speed gain simply by removing the need for accessing the disk and parsing the PHP files.

As with any language, you do need to be familiar with the data structures and how they are to be used efficiently. Poor algorithms will be slow regardless of the language, but especially in a scripting language where lots of "magic" happens under the hood.