2. Outline Introduction to the Phalanger System
main features and goals
Why PHP on .NET Framework?
Performance benchmarks
Interesting Issues
inclusions, local variables optimization, multi-version types/functions
accessing .NET objects, adding fields on .NET objects at run-time
using PHP native libraries
Future Work: Phalanger 2.0
PHP/CLR – extending PHP to the first-class .NET language
Support for Mono Platform

3. Phalanger
Extends the family of .NET languages with PHP versions 4, 5, and 6
introduces language extensions for using .NET types (PHP/CLR)
Makes it possible to run existing PHP applications on ASP.NET web server
Significant performance improvement
Higher reliability of the web server
Better configurability
More errors revealed by the compilation
Source-free application deployment
Brings virtually all PHP libraries to .NET Framework
migration from PHP interpreter is simple in practice without additional costs
Enriches both worlds
PHP applications with the functionality of the .NET platform
.NET applications with a possibility to use a popular dynamic language
Integrates PHP with Visual Studio .NET

4. PHP Sample include "a.php"; class C extends D implements I, J {
public function m($a, $b = 1, $c = array(3,2,1))
$f = "sort";
$f($c);
$x = "b";
if ($$x) { function f() { echo "version 1"; } }
else { function f() { echo "version 2"; } }
f();
eval('$a++;'); }
private $d;
function __get($field_name) { return $d->$field_name; }
function __set($field_name, $value) { $d->$field_name = $value; }

5. Micro-benchmarks
each operation performed 10M times in a loop; machine: Pentium M Dothan 1.8GHz/2MB cache
the lesser the better

6. phpBB Benchmark Results (Apache 2.0.54)
MSDE 2000 SP3
MySQL
phpBB Benchmark Results (Apache )
requests per second
Phalanger 1.0
PHP + Zend Optimizer
PHP
the greater the better

7. Major Issues missing specification inclusions
“correctness” criteria: existing applications should work well without modifications
inclusions
standard PHP mode
inclusions similar to C language; the included file needn’t to be known at compile-time
pure mode (since Phalanger 2.0)
C# like project – unconditional declarations visible in all files comprising the project
multi-version and compile-time unknown types/functions
classes and functions can be declared conditionally in multiple versions
classes and functions can be generated at run-time
class can extend/implement compile-time unknown class/interface
local variables optimization
creating a hash table for each call is expensive and unnecessary
compile-time known variables can be stored in CLR locals in majority cases

8. Using PHP Native Extensions
a necessity for a seamless migration from PHP interpreter
PHP
Many functions and classes implemented in PHP extensions
php_imap.dll, php_pdf.dll, php_sockets.dll, php_gtk.dll, …
PHP interpreter exposes so called Zend API to extensions (php4ts.dll)
Phalanger
Makes the functionality in PHP extensions available for any .NET app.
managed wrappers
encapsulates and shields out native implementation
Extension Manager
emulates the PHP interpreter environment (Zend API)
within the application process using the extension or
in a separate process, isolating untrustworthy extensions
Native Code
php_imap.dll
Managed Code
Mixed Code
Application (PHP, C#, …)
Extension Wrapper
Extension Manager
C++/CLI php4ts.dll
php_pdf.dll …
Zend API
optional process boundary bridged by .NET Remoting via Shared Memory Channel

9. Managed Wrappers
Assemblies generated automatically from native extensions and optional type information in XML format
...
<function returnType="int" name="socket_write" >
<param type="resource" name="socket" />
<param type="string" name="buf" />
<param optional="true" type="int" name="length" />
</function>
php_sockets.xml
PHP_FUNCTION(socket_write) {
zend_parse_parameters(...);
ZEND_FETCH_RESOURCE(...);
// ...
RETURN_LONG(...); }
php_sockets.dll
.method public hidebysig static int32 socket_write(
class [PhpNetCore]PHP.Core.PhpResource socket,
string buf,
int32 length) cil managed
.custom instance void
PhpNetCore]PHP.Core.ImplementsFunctionAttribute ...
call object
[PhpNetCore]PHP.Core.Externals::InvokeFunction(...)
ret
string buf) cil managed
php_sockets.mng.dll

10. Summary & Future Work Phalanger 1.0 Phalanger 2.0, PHP/CLR
goal achieved: to make existing application working under .NET
much better performance in practice
final version available for download
Phalanger 2.0, PHP/CLR
Make PHP a first-class language for .NET
extensions to the language enabling PHP programs to work directly with .NET types, methods, delegates, events, generics, …
extending .NET classes, overload resolution, run-time fields addition, …
multi-threading
support for Language Integrated Query (LINQ)
minimize necessary language modifications
keep the dynamic nature of the language
e.g. run-time specified generic type arguments, etc.
ASP.NET Controls in PHP etc.

11. Related Work Dynamic languages on .NET PHP compilers IronPython
Python is a bit more dynamic
e.g. replacing methods at run-time
less optimizations possible
PyStone benchmark
overall improvement by factor 1.84
micro-benchmark results range from 10x faster to 10x slower
Ruby, Perl, JScript, …
PHP compilers
Resin Quercus
PHP to Java translation, compilation to JVM byte-code
Roadsend Compiler
PHP to C translation, compilation to native code

12. Q & A