The topic of performance of specific programming languages has provided material for endless debates among developers. Proponents of a certain language often cite examples that show their chosen language in a particularly good light. For example, I have come across the claim that PHP and Ruby are performing just as well as Java. Often these claims are supported by nothing but a firm tone of voice and a stern mien. Thankfully, we have benchmarks. A playful yet credible approach to performance measurement was taken by this website.
It contains an array of typical benchmark algorithms implemented in 35 popular (and not so popular) programming languages all running on various Linux servers. There are many complexities involved in measuring programming languages execution speed. The web development arena adds even more complexities. Much depends not only on how the algorithms are implemented, but also on how the compiler and the server are configured. For example, there are different JVMs, there are script caches, accelerators, server tunings, and what not. The languages I’d like to compare here are Java, Scala, and PHP. You will find comparison graphs for each of these below.
Three charts:
1. Java vs. PHP
2. Scala vs. PHP
3. Scala vs. Java
Three bar groups:
1. Execution time
2. Memory use
3. Size of source code
Bar pointing down means: faster performance, lower memory usage, and reduced source size.
Basically, these charts confirm what experienced programmers already know. Both, Java and Scala outperform PHP by several magnitudes. To be precise, Java and Scala execute 28 times faster on average. The performance of Java and Scala is similar, which has to be expected since both languages run on the Java virtual machine. Java gives slightly better performance in some algorithms while its memory requirements are lower. For PHP fans who find these benchmarks disappointing, there is some consolation. PHP appears to be less of a memory hogger, and perhaps more importantly, it performs quite favorably when compared to other dynamic interpreted languages, such as Perl, and Ruby.
You can compare more language benchmarks yourself at the following URL: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/u64q/benchmark.php.
I have a bit of a dilemma with programming languages. Next year, I expect to be able to free up a little extra time for a private programming project (call me an optimist!) and I am wondering which language/technology to use. The project is quite straightforward. It’s a business application that I use for my own work as a software engineer. It consists of four components. There’s a contact manager component (or CRM as it’s now fashionably called), a project management component, a time tracking component, and a billing component. That may sound like a tall order, but obviously I don’t need the full-blown functionality of applications like Siebel, MS Project, or SAP. I just need an application that brings certain functionality together in a quite specific way to suit my needs.
The software I am currently using for this purpose consists of two different programs. The CRM and billing components are contained in a Delphi application which I wrote more than 10 years ago. The time sheet and project management components are part of a PHP application that I developed in 2002. Needless to say that these two programs are neither cutting-edge, nor are they well integrated. The Delphi application uses an outdated Borland Paradox DB and the PHP application contains large swathes of ugly procedural code. Although the whole shebang fulfils its purpose, I feel it’s high time for a replacement. Of course, I could acquire an existing software package and save a lot of time writing code myself. But hey, I am a software engineer. I do like a creative challenge and I want something that fits my needs. I also want to learn new technologies.
The question I am asking myself now is what to use for the task. I am considering Java, PHP, and Scala. There are pros and cons for each of these:
(1) Java, JSP and a web framework with an app server. This is the obvious choice. Most of my professional work is JEE-based these days. I believe that I can work productively with Java, although the language inevitably involves a lot of boilerplate code and redundancy, which has a negative impact on productivity. In spite of this, it would be an good opportunity to deepen my knowledge of JSF (Java Server Faces), Hibernate, or try out some other persistence layer. It would also offer an opportunity to learn a new Java web framework that I haven’t yet worked with such as Spring or Tapestry. From a business point of view, this may be a good choice because Java technologies are in high demand and it is also a very robust platform. The JEE universe is really quite large and there’s enough territory that would be fun to explore. The downside is that Java, the language, is slightly tedious.
(2) The second choice is PHP and the Zend framework in combination with some AJAX toolkit, such as YUI or Dojo. I have the feeling this would be the most productive way to go; the biggest bang for the buck so to speak. For a project of this size (around 50 kloc), the development time may be even half of that with Java. PHP 5 and the Zend framework are mature technologies and I am quite familiar with both. Another advantage of PHP is that it’s wide spread. Almost every hosting company offers PHP, whereas the number of Java hosting companies is considerably smaller (and usually more expensive). So, there wouldn’t be any problem hosting the finished product anywhere. The downside is that PHP, being a dynamic language, is less robust and slower than JVM bytecode. The language is also less expressive. But the biggest disadvantage is that I’d hardly learn anything new in the process.
(3) The third alternative is using Scala in combination with the Lift framework and a standard web container. I find this the most exciting choice, but it’s very likely to be the most time consuming. I am rather new to Scala and functional programming. What I have seen so far is great. Programming in Scala is much more fun than coding in Java or PHP. I am afraid though, it would take a bit of time to wrap my head around it and work productively. Scala is still a foreign language to me. Another downside is that there is a limited choice of frameworks, APIs, and tools available at this point. Actually, Lift is the only Scala web framework I know of. Another question I am asking myself is whether acquiring Scala skills does make any business sense. I haven’t seen too many Scala job offerings so far. Seems like the most fun choice, but also the least promising from a business point of view.
Decisions, decisions, decisions…
Usually I don’t talk about new product announcements in this blog, because there are just too many of them and often they are only of interest to a small group. Yet, I think the recent release of Zend Studio for Eclipse (Beta) will be exciting news for almost every PHP developer. Last year I had evaluated the previous version of Zend Studio, which is certainly excellent. However, I’ve grown attached to the Eclipse IDE, and therefore I did not make the switch and kept using the PHP Eclipse plugin instead. It seems that Eclipse has gained popularity across the board in the PHP world. Zend has recognised the signs of the time and released an Eclipse version of its flagship product earlier this month. This puts Zend Studio into direct competition with PDT and PHP Eclipse.
The Zend IDE has all the usual niceties, such as code assist, syntax colouring, code fold, class hierarchy view, property inspectors, auto format, and powerful search/replace functions without which most PHP developers probably cannot live any more, but there is even more. In addition to PHP code editing, the IDE also provides JavaScript and CSS editors. I have always wished for the sort of code refactoring functionality for PHP that you get with the Eclipse Java editor. The new Zend Studio finally offers this, although perhaps somewhat less extensively than what Java programmers are used to. At least there’s support for renaming and moving, as well as automatic includes. This alone should be a huge time saver, especially for larger projects with dozens or even hundreds of source files.
Further high-end features include support for PHPUnit Testing, PHPDoc generation, as well as debugging and profiling. I cannot stress enough how important these features are, especially when working in a team. The PHPUnit support generates skeleton test classes for all code elements and thus finally takes the pain out of creating meaningful test suites. Well, the programmer is still responsible for making them meaningful, but there isn’t so much typing involved any more. Likewise, with full PhpDoc support there is finally no more excuse for not including the programmer documentation in the sources. Project managers will probably welcome this, just as the felicitous integration of CVS and Subversion which works right out of the project view. Given “var_dump” and logging I have rarely felt the need for a debugger, but since debugging has always been a strength of Zend Studio, one might welcome this as an additional luxury. The profiler, on the other hand, can prove to be vital when checking large chunks of unfamiliar code for weaknesses.
Other noteworthy features are support for code templates and snippets (probably great for lazy typers with a good memory), inclusion of the open-source PHP/Java bridge which allows using Java classes from PHP and vice versa, and a number of wizards that help to get projects and classes getting off the ground faster, including support for WSDL/SOAP. Perhaps even more noteworthy are the integrated SQL GUI editor and HTML WYSIWYG editor. The SQL GUI offers the typical DB server explorer tree, table data viewing and editing in grids, a query editor with syntax highlighting and BLOB views. This is certainly helpful for casual database development, although “serious” DB developers might still prefer the respective DB manufacturer’s tools in combination with an ORM library. The HTML WYSIWYG editor is another really big addition. It looks a bit like an early version of Dreamweaver and it offers code, design and split-window code/design views. I doubt that it can replace a high-end designer tool, but it is certainly more than sufficient for the typical web application, and perhaps it even allows less artistically inclined programmers to add some visual polish to their pages.
In summary, Zend Studio for Eclipse is a high-end development tool with many advanced productivity features. The product is offered at a price of $254 USD and the final release is announced for the end of 2007. Further information, including a number of demo videos, is available at the Zend website.
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