Phalanger (compiler)

Last updated
Phalanger
Stable release
3.0.0.3851 / January 2013;10 years ago (2013-01)
Repository
Written in C#, C++/CIL
Operating system Cross-platform
Platform .NET Framework
License Apache License (Apache 2)
Website www.php-compiler.net

Phalanger is a compiler front end for compiling PHP source code into CIL byte-code, which can be further processed by the .NET Framework's just-in-time compiler. The project was started at Charles University and is supported by Microsoft. Phalanger was discontinued in favor of the more modern PeachPie compiler, which utilizes the Roslyn API.

Contents

Compatibility

Phalanger can run real-world PHP applications, many with minor to no modifications. Examples include WordPress, [1] phpMyAdmin and phpBB. [2]

Performance

One of the main goals of the project is to improve performance of PHP applications. The project web page claims considerable performance benefits over a 32-bit Windows version of PHP. [3]

There was a project [4] at Charles University to re-implement the Phalanger core using the Microsoft Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), and to develop a Visual Studio integration tool to provide IntelliSense for the PHP language.

Though some features from DLR would slow down the performance of Phalanger[ citation needed ], they do claim performance gains by a factor of 6. [5] These features are being integrated into current Phalanger core.

Google Summer of Code

A project involving Phalanger was mentored by the Mono team during the Google Summer of Code program in 2008. During this period Phalanger was ported to the Silverlight 2.0 framework with the goal of making it work on Moonlight as well. [6]

Jadu sponsorship

Early in 2008, UK Content Management vendor Jadu partnered with the Prague-based team to improve communication between .NET and the Phalanger compiler. It is based on duck typing and provides a way for accessing objects from the dynamic PHP world that lack compile-time type information from a statically typed language in a .NET environment in a type-safe way. [7]

In December 2008, Jadu announced that it has made the compiler available to the developer community and in interviews with ITPRO [8] and VNUnet [9] said that the development would help close the skills gap between PHP and .NET.

Devsense support & development

Since 2009, DEVSENSE company leads the development of the project and offers commercial support. [10] DEVSENSE consists of core Phalanger developers and keeps this open-source project alive.

In addition to maintenance and growth of the project, Devsense is providing Visual Studio integration of Phalanger for the community. [11]

Since 2012, DEVSENSE provides support forum [12] for Phalanger (compiler) and related projects for the community.

Legacy

The last PHP version supported by Phalanger is 5.4. The GitHub project is marked "Deprecated" and (as of 2019) it hasn't been updated for years. The GitHub page also announces a new project, PeachPie compiler as its successor for PHP 7.1. [13] PeachPie can compile code using PHP 5.4 syntax or newer, and is officially supported by .NET Foundation. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

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PeachPie is an open-source PHP language compiler and runtime for the .NET Framework and .NET. It is built on top of the Microsoft Roslyn compiler platform and is based on the first-generation Phalanger project. PeachPie compiles source code written in PHP to CIL byte-code. PeachPie takes advantage of the JIT compiler component of the .NET Framework in order to handle the beginning of the compilation process. Its purpose is not to generate or optimize native code, but rather to compile PHP scripts into .NET assemblies containing CIL code and meta-data. In July 2017, the project became a member of the .NET Foundation.

References

  1. ↑ Phalanger + Wordpress Archived 2011-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "phpBB: Creating communities twice as fast". Archived from the original on 2013-05-17. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  3. ↑ "Benchmarks". www.php-compiler.net. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27.
  4. ↑ "Improvements in the Phalanger Project". www.php-compiler.net. 2008-07-01. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
  5. ↑ "Phalanger takes advantage of DLR". 2011-08-01. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  6. ↑ "Google Summer of Code Application Information". 2007-04-21.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Petricek, Tomas (2007-04-30). "Using PHP objects from C# in a type-safe way". Archived from the original on 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  8. ↑ Har-Even, Benny (2006-12-02). "Jadu gets PHP and .NET talking". ITPRO. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  9. ↑ Muncaster, Phil (2006-11-28). "Jadu brings PHP and .NET closer together". VNUnet. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04.
  10. ↑ "Devsense offers Phalanger and commercial support". DEVSENSE. Archived from the original on 2011-06-24.
  11. ↑ "Devsense provides Phalanger Tools". DEVSENSE. Archived from the original on 2011-10-17.
  12. ↑ "DEVSENSE support". DEVSENSE. Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-01-24.
  13. ↑ "GitHub - DEVSENSE/Phalanger: PHP 5.4 compiler for .NET/Mono frameworks. Phalanger compiles legacy PHP code to MSIL while being fully compatible with PHP behavior". GitHub . Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  14. ↑ "GitHub - peachpiecompiler/peachpie: PeachPie - the PHP compiler and runtime for .NET and .NET Core". GitHub . Archived from the original on 2019-07-20. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
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