Forum Moderators: coopster
I'm wondering what the reason for this is.
Several possibilities are:
Mindshare moving towards Rails/Python Frameworks
Growing number of "PHP Sucks" posts
Inability of PHP to be respected in the enterprise
Do you think PHP is on its way out?
hehe
looking at this
[securityspace.com...]
PHP still has growth and is still the most popular apache module there is
PHP is definitely getting stronger and will continue to do so
Don’t’ forget our motto
PHP has grown huge and now challenges Perl as the new defacto cgi scripting language.
PHP just doesn't match up to compiled code
You can compile PHP using the Zend module.
Processor power is dirt cheap these days, too.
TJ
It is also worth to note that just because some module is installed on a web server doesn't mean it is actually in use by the site. On the other hand, eg. Python is often installed in a way that is hard to detect from the outside.
You can compile PHP using the Zend module.Processor power is dirt cheap these days, too.
Both of those are relative advantages only. Even compiled with Zend I get benchmarks much lower than with executables written in C.
PHP seems to add an enormous overhead to the code you run, and the handling of large arrays is very slow. Something as simple as taking a 2Mb digital image, reading the bits into an array, running basic manipulation algorithms, and then returning to the browser can take much much longer than it should.
Even compiled with Zend I get benchmarks much lower than with executables written in C.
Of course, but it's generally fast enough for most web applications.
Something as simple as taking a 2Mb digital image, reading the bits into an array, running basic manipulation algorithms, and then returning to the browser can take much much longer than it should.
PHP would be the wrong tool for the job.
That example is a perfect case for coding that function in C and optimising heavily.
PHP is a fantastic tool. It shouldn't be knocked because it's bad at doing things it wasn't designed to do.
It was conceived and designed as a basic scripting language for creating dynamic web pages. At that it excels.
It wasn't designed for manipulation of 2mb image files. At that it's probably whack, but then it would be a bad decision to code something like that in PHP, not PHP's fault.
TJ
Do we have any stats?
I have no data to agree or disagree.
However my uneducated gut feeling tells me that not many servers use that function.
A few simple techniques can help to hide PHP, possibly slowing down an attacker who is attempting to discover weaknesses in your system. By setting expose_php = off in your php.ini file, you reduce the amount of information available to them.
Maybe server admins aren't doing that by default ... but then what else aren't they doing to secure their box? Maybe this helps explain the rise in zombie machines over the past year, too ... ;)
<edit>The link to TPCI-TIOBE [tiobe.com] indicates PHP is holding steady. Ahhh ... data mining fun!</edit>
[edited by: StupidScript at 7:48 pm (utc) on Sep. 7, 2006]
While I don't know what kind of stats there might be on how many others are doing that, the number has to be growing. Even this thread is probably going to encourage some to turn expose off.
Beyond that, statistically, the Netcraft graph doesn't look right at all to me. Even if PHP is facing other competition, it's not like PHP could have gone the way of buggy whips so suddenly. If a downturn were due to PHP being displaced by other technology, I'd expect the graph to look more like a bell curve then the summit of Mount Everest. That alone suggests to me that the sudden downturn shown on the graph is more likely due to admins turning expose off in a security conscious world than it is to programmers abandoning PHP altogether. I know I ain't lettin' it go.
