The number of implementations of PHP continue to rise and rise. [...] I am excited about all these implementations. Most computationally intensive compiler benchmarks have shown a 5-10 times speedup over mod_php. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before we see a JIT compiler for PHP to Intel opcodes, built into mod_php...
Some of the ones mentioned include:
- Caucho's PHP5 to Java bytecode compiler
- Pint, a PHP to Parrot compiler
- Roadsend, a commercial PHP to binary compiler
He also speculates on the things that might be causing a slow uptake of these compiler technologies, things like: "is PHP fast enough?" and "Not all PHP extensions/libraries are available on all systems"...
