Keith Devens .com

Page execution time code on my site

Someone recently asked me in an e-mail how I generate the "This page took about x seconds to generate" message on my site. As I started to reply, and pasted the code I use into my e-mail client, I realized that this would work much better as a weblog entry (you get source-code highlighting here). So, here's how I do it:

I have one function, called timer().


<?php
function timer($finish = false){
    static $start_frac_sec, $start_sec, $end_frac_sec, $end_sec;
    if($finish){
        list($end_frac_sec,$end_sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
        echo '<p style="font-size: smaller">This page took about ' .
            round(
                (
                    ($end_sec - $start_sec)
                    + ($end_frac_sec - $start_frac_sec)
                ),
            4) . ' seconds to generate.</p>\n';
    }else{
        list($start_frac_sec,$start_sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
    }
}
?>

Because of the $finish parameter, you can use one function to both keep track of the time (which works without global variables because of the static variables) and print it when you're done. So, I call timer() around the start of my script, and timer(true) around the end of it.

Permalink | 5 Comments | Tags: Programming, This website | id 4448

15:52 (utc-5)
edited: 15:54 (utc-5)

> What is it about PHP that makes people want to use it???

Here's what I think:

Reason #1: The cost of the software itself ...
PHP is open source and free, whereas webdna costs thousands of dollars for the first purchase and hundreds (or thousands) more every time a new version comes out or every time you want to add another new domain to the server. Then there is the issue of dealing with new bugs in webdna which are released in every new version, thus making your upgrade purchase uneless for several months until the company finally fixes a few of the biggest bugs ...

Reason #2: The availability of hosting services ...
PHP is already installed and functioning properly on just about every hosting service in the world, including those cheap $5 a month hosting services. But if you're using webdna you will be lucky to find a decent (and also affordable) hosting service no matter how hard you look for one.

Reason #3: Great support by lots of experienced users ...
Since a lot of people use PHP there are lots of support groups, lists, etc. out there for both new and experienced PHP programmers. Webdna has a miniscule following by comparison, and SmithMicro employees seldom respond to inquiries on their own talk list unless you repeat yourself several times.

Reason #4: Lots of free code snippets available ...
There are lots of free downloadable PHP examples available that offer "cut and paste" solutions to many web programming tasks, thus saving lots of development time. Webdna has little that's useful in the way of downloadable "cut and paste" functions and solutions. Instead the webdna authors all seem to prefer to be paid for their work instead of sharing freely.

Reason #5: The availability of cheap programmers ...
Since PHP is free and so well known and supported, there are lots of PHP programmers available for hire at far lower rates than the rates webdna programmers charge. So even though a project may take longer to code in PHP, it can still cost the customer less overall. And customers like lower prices.

Reason #6: Webdna could 'disappear' at any time ...
PHP will never die because it is supported by a huge community of web developers that demand no money and expect nothing but good software. On the other hand, SmithMicro (the owners of webdna) could go out of business at any time, or they could simply decide to just stop selling webdna if they find it doesn't make enough money for them any more. Then where does that leave all the webdna programmers? Out in the cold, that's where ... probably wishing they had learned PHP instead.

Don't get me wrong, webdna is a wonderful program to use! It's fast and elegant and it can handle most web features and capabilities with ease. In this respect it is much more enjoyable to use than PHP -- from a programmer's standpoint.

But from a web site owner's position, all the OTHER factors are the "real world" issues that determine which program the owner will accept ... and in the real world, PHP wins on many of the practical points that web site owners consider to be very important.

Wednesday, December 3, 2003

Page execution time code on my site

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