#codeprofiling

[daniiltkachev]

PHP performance tuning: From code profiling to server optimization

Here are the essential techniques to boost PHP performance, including code profiling, opcode caching, and server optimization, with practical examples and actionable tips. Optimizing PHP performance is crucial for web applications. This article delves into code profiling, opcode caching, and server optimization to enhance efficiency. Introduction to PHP Performance Tuning PHP performance tuning is a critical aspect of web development, especially for high-traffic applications. Efficient PHP code ensures faster response times, reduced server load, and improved user experience. This article will guide you through the essential techniques to optimize PHP performance, from code profiling to server configuration. Code Profiling: Identifying Bottlenecks Code profiling is the first step in optimizing PHP performance. It involves analyzing your code to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Tools like Xdebug and Blackfire are invaluable for this purpose. Xdebug provides detailed insights into function calls, execution times, and memory usage, while Blackfire offers a more comprehensive analysis with visual representations of performance data. For instance, consider a scenario where an e-commerce application experiences slow checkout times. By profiling the code, you might discover that a specific function responsible for calculating discounts is taking too long to execute. With this insight, you can refactor the function to improve its efficiency, thereby enhancing the overall performance of the application. Opcode Caching: Speeding Up Execution Opcode caching is another crucial technique for optimizing PHP performance. PHP scripts are compiled into opcode before execution, and this process can be time-consuming. Opcode caching stores the compiled opcode in memory, reducing the need for repeated compilation and speeding up execution. OPcache is a popular opcode caching solution that comes bundled with PHP. Enabling OPcache can significantly improve the performance of your PHP applications. For example, a content management system (CMS) that serves thousands of pages per second can benefit immensely from OPcache, as it reduces the overhead of compiling PHP scripts for each request. Server Optimization: Configuring PHP-FPM and Memory Limits Server optimization is the final piece of the puzzle. Configuring PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) is essential for managing PHP processes efficiently. PHP-FPM allows you to control the number of child processes, request handling, and resource allocation, ensuring optimal performance under heavy loads. Adjusting memory limits is another critical aspect of server optimization. PHP applications often consume a significant amount of memory, and setting appropriate memory limits can prevent resource exhaustion. For example, a high-traffic e-commerce site might require higher memory limits to handle concurrent user sessions and complex transactions. Additionally, optimizing database interactions can further enhance performance. Techniques such as indexing, query optimization, and using connection pooling can reduce the load on your database server, leading to faster response times. Conclusion: Implementing Performance Tuning Techniques In conclusion, PHP performance tuning is a multifaceted process that involves code profiling, opcode caching, and server optimization. By identifying bottlenecks, leveraging opcode caching, and configuring server settings, you can significantly improve the efficiency of your PHP applications. Implement these techniques to ensure your web applications run smoothly and provide an excellent user experience. Read the full article

[esoteric-codes]

CodeProfiles

There’s still time to see this work at the Whitney; the excellent “Programmed” show is up though 4/14. The following post is from Dec...

W. Bradford Paley's CodeProfiles, currently on display at the Whitney's Programmed show, displays and engages with its own code. While the Programmed show, curated by Christiane Paul, connects the step-by-step instructional nature of digital art with the instructions of Conceptual Art, Paley's work is the one which is most explicitly Code Art, in that to view the piece is to see its code, and reading the code directly adds to the understanding of the work.

Paley's piece is a kind of self-performing code; individual lines of code light up the more they're executed, and three points move across it, each tracing their individual narratives through the code. One marks the writing the code, another how someone might read it, and the third how the machine executes it: we see them not just as "points" but ghostly lines and swirls, connections drawn back and forth, across the two-dimensional display of code. Those who can read Java may get more out of what is happening, but the piece is visually interesting enough for the uninitiated to get a sense of how these emanations mark time.

New Yorker Paley, born 1958, describes himself as a cognitive engineer, toolmaker, and educator, and has been coding computer graphics since 1973. His previous work was in information visualization, such as Relationships among Scientific Paradigms (viewable on his site) which sorts 800,000 scientific categories into 776 scientific paradigms, discovering relationships through citations, in a large visual space.

Paley made CodeProfiles for the Whitney's epochal 2002 online CODeDOC show, responding to a call for work from curator Christiane Paul "to write code that moves three points in space." Used to working with enormous data sets, he found limiting himself to just three points a challenge:

A month before the show I flashed on the idea that the source code itself could be the space, and it immediately followed from Christiane's goals that the three points should be the fixation point of someone reading the code, the execution point of the computer running it, and my own insertion point as I wrote it.

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[freshmen-dropout-blog]

W. Bradford Paley (NYC TRIP)

Yesterday, Cornell University arranged for its art students to visit the MOMA PS1 and Whitney Museum in Long Island City and Manhatten. Our trip to PS1 MOMA was intended to teach us that there is more to just the “art making” part of museums. Behind each piece, installation, and performance is an exhibit organizer and curator who work in conjunction to arrange how the art is viewed; which is just as important as the artist who creates the pieces. 

Afterward, we traveled to the Whitney where two new exhibits were opened: Andy Warhol - FROM A TO B AND BACK AGAIN and PROGRAMMED: RULES, CODES, AND CHOREOGRAPHIES IN ART, 1965-2018. I absolutely loved the PROGRAMMED exhibition. The name comes from the fact that the exhibit was focused on programmed art by computer code. From the Whitney Museum’s website: 

“The exhibition links two strands of artistic exploration: the first examines the program as instructions, rules, and algorithms with a focus on conceptual art practices and their emphasis on ideas as the driving force behind the art; the second strand engages with the use of instructions and algorithms to manipulate the TV program, its apparatus, and signals or image sequences.”

As someone who participated in my high school's robotics team and has an interest in computer science such as Python and C++, I have always dreamed of such an exhibit. They are rare and I am happy museums are finally recognizing how technology is, directly and indirectly, influencing the creation of art. 

An artist I was particularly interested in was W. Bradford Paley. As an associate professor at Columbia University, he studied computer graphics at UC Berkeley in 1981 and founded Digital Image Design Incorporated. His work and art practices focus primarily on making complex code and date easier to understand by those who are not familiar with CS. He does this by making visual displays that actively engage the viewer. This new form of digital art can be seen as a form of abstraction for someone who doesn’t understand- a commentary on how the population is emersed in a digital world they know nothing about. 

A piece of his that interested me was CodeProfiles, Java Program. CodeProfiles looks at the computer program as text and visually comments on how code is ready by people, written by programmers, and executed by computers. Reflecting on its own construction, the work consists of the code that makes the code visible on the screen. Paley makes three points visible with an amber, white, and green line. 

Amber line: follows the fixation point (tracing how people might read the text)

White line: follows the insertion point (flows like programmers thoughts) 

Green line: moves along the execution point (creating swarths where the code was executed)

By doing this, Paley visualizes the program that runs behind most digital art- driven by a language formulating instructions. 

I plan on revisiting this exhibit with my family so they can also enjoy the new wave of digital art. 

Thank you Cornell,