Programmers - Are PHP Accelerators worth using?

[beergood]

I'm trying to squeeze more speed out of a program I've been developing in PHP. I have no experience with them and was wondering if they're worth bothering with. Do they help with base64_decode/encode calls?

[jwerd]

Well, there are two different methods that Zend offers: The first being the optimizer you load on your server (meaning all your clients that use your software would have to load this piece of software) and then the second is there studio package which checks your code for overhead and basically offers advice on how to make it more efficient on pageviews etc.. So the question is, is this going to be a product a client uses on their server, or are you going to use the second method offered by Zend? :P

Just something to consider.

[myneid]

If you are putting up a commercial grade product, Zend Performance Suite is WAY worth its money.

For an example, i had some pretty intensive admin reports that would take about 1-3 minutes to run. once i put on ZPS , the same report comes up in under 15 seconds.

[beergood]

This software is for one client and will not be resold. I need to speed up things such as looping, encryption/decryption methods in php. Installing software on the box isn't a problem.

[beergood]

Thanks for the opinions given thus far, does anyone have something else to say on the matter?

[Esbee]

Email Zend. They'll give you a 30-day demo of their optimizer so you can check it out. They'll even put you in touch with a tech guy to help you install the demo if you're not overly confident in your sysadmin abilities.

I have no PHP apps running slowly so haven't seen a need, but it hasn't stopped them from calling me once every three months to see if I'm ready to demo.

[beergood]

Yeah I'm installing it as we speak. See what happens I guess.

[Volantt]

There is another one called MMcache

V

[johndoebob]

Use zend or ioncube,I would recomment it for ecommerce solutions.It always depends on what you want to use.For perfect speed with really heavy apps use something else than PHP if possible