How to test for php script performance?

Server Load, Time etc.

[planbeta]

Are there other more specific methods this to test out scripts efficiency eg. how much load it puts on the server etc?

For the minute the only way I test the efficiency of a script is by using a time function to see how long it takes to load (obviously the quicker the better).

?

Cheers

Chris

[Asandir]

You could set up a webserver benchmark using the script...

Those programs send many requests at once to your server, and you can see how scalable/fast your script is.

[jatar_k]

Speed is primary, obviously. If the page is going to be publically available and while developing you are the only one using the page, it should be instantaneous. Even the tiniest hesitation can turn into a nightmare with some good traffic. What are the actual times? I have no idea, I would have to benchmark them but I know a trouble script when I see one.

Do we think about system resources? Definitely. How do we evaluate their usage? Speed under load. If you get 10 users on the same page and it starts lagging, big trouble. We all want a million uniques after all so that page better render blazingly fast.

The key to the whole thing is, the quicker the page renders the faster system resources are released. So really, it is all about speed.

<added>working on this post and Asandir answers, so I made some changes

[planbeta]

Thank you both! :)

Chris