sometime in February, the devs at Facebook created an interpreter (called Hip Hop), which translates PHP into C++ (compiled/binary), using g++


I wanted to see how many people are Realistically, using this now; and what their thoughts are regarding the project.

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My thoughts are that it might be excellent for large companies running large PHP sites, but that it's not going to catch on with the "small guys" (i.e.- your average run of the mill developers coding small PHP projects)

I could see some geeks getting on it and making all sorts of developments to the project, as it is open source; but beyond that, I just don't see it being a huge, worldwide, "everybody's using it" kind of thing.


Likewise, there are also other programs out there that already compile PHP to executable code, so... I don' exactly see why Facebook's creation of such a thing either would/be anymore important than the other projects out there that already do this; other than the fact that it's Facebook who released it, as opposed to 5 geeks in Stockholm running a software company out of each others' homes.

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Maybe my opinion about this is bleek, or maybe just incredibly uninformed.

Either way, i'd be very glad to hear everyone's thoughts on the project, should you have them.

Its my understanding that the performance boost from using compiled code is not as impressive as it may seem on the surface. A large portion of execution time, for typical applications, is spent waiting for database transactions or other processes; compiling your code won't have any affect on these tasks.

I imagine that for an average application, improving the efficiency of database operations would yield more performance than compiling your code. This isn't to say that compilation isn't a viable solution to improving performance, I just don't see it as a first step. Facebook has certainly spent a great deal of effort improving their applications' performance through other means, prior to creating hip hop.

Doesn't PHP use the same syntax or something as C++? If so it wouldn't be too hard to make a translator :P

BTW this forum needs uppercase translation of :P

The only reason it is getting any attention is because of facebook, and i really have not heard a lot about it so it is sounds like one of those things people do not really care to much about.