Posted by NC on 11/21/07 00:48

On Nov 18, 10:10 pm, Lew <l...@lewscanon.com> wrote:
>
> Optimization is always both situational and non-transferable.

Situational, definitely. Non-transferable, I am not sure I agree.
For example, deploying PHP as a CGI executable is always a losing
proposition compared to either HTTP server module or FastCGI. The
choice between HTTP server module and FastCGI usually depends on the
HTTP server and the operating system. On BSD, regardless of the HTTP
server, FastCGI usually works better (that's the setup Yahoo! uses).
With Zeus, regardless of the OS, developers also recommend FastCGI.
The Linux/Apache crowd is unevenly split, with majority preferring the
Apache module and a sizable minority (including folks at GoDaddy)
leaning towards FastCGI.

> Once performance gets in the ballpark, in other words, once
> with appropriate effort you can get Java or PHP or C++ or C#
> or whatever to run with approximately equal efficiency, the
> ability to manage team projects, create all desired features
> and minimize risk will be the dominant factor in platform
> selection. Development and maintenance costs will trump
> execution costs.

For small-scale applications, almost always. For large-scale
applications, almost never. In 2006, Google's R&D costs were $1.2
billion, while its purchases of long-lived assets (mostly computer
equipment and buildings housing it) amounted to $1.9 billion:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000119312507044494/d10k.htm

And that's Google, running its production systems on a proprietary
Linux-based software stack. Were we talking about a company whose
production systems run on an out-of-the-box commercial stack
(WebSphere/Oracle or Windows/SQL Server), R&D costs would be lower (no
in-house development of kernel and file system) and purchases of long-
lived assets, higher (licenses for commercial software running on
numerous production servers).

> At some point one has to assert that the platform is fast enough,
> and look for other criteria to choose the right one.

Indeed. And one of these factors just happens to be licensing cost.
And that's where PHP (and, I might add, Python) shine, as they can be
deployed on an open-source software stack.

Cheers,
NC

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