From the monthly archives:
February 2007
PHP Acceleration - Pick Your Poison
As I deployed more applications and web sites on my server, I started running into resource issues. Since most of the applications I write are in Java, I run Tomcat on my Linux server. But I also run Apache as a front-end host for Tomcat as well as several PHP applications like WordPress, Vanilla and a few other PHP applications that I've written. I am not an expert PHP developer by any stretch of the imagination but I tinker with enough PHP that I decided to take a look at PHP Acceleration software.
For the uninitiated, PHP is a scripting language that is interpreted and compiled on the server side. PHP Accelerators offer caching of the PHP scripts in their compiled state along with optimization. There are several PHP optimization products out there and I decided to give eAccelerator, XCache and APC a try on my Linux machine. For the record, the box is running CentOS 4.4 which is essentially a distribution that is repackaged Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x.
eAccelerator - eAccelerator is a free open-source PHP accelerator, optimizer, and dynamic content cache. It increases the performance of PHP scripts by caching them in their compiled state, so that the overhead of compiling is almost completely eliminated. It also optimizes scripts to speed up their execution. eAccelerator typically reduces server load and increases the speed of your PHP code by 1-10 times. XCache - XCache is a fast, stable PHP opcode cacher that has been tested and is now running on production servers under high load. APC - The Alternative PHP Cache (APC) is a free and open opcode cache for PHP. It was conceived of to provide a free, open, and robust framework for caching and optimizing PHP intermediate code.
I compiled and installed these PHP accelerators and found APC worked the best for me. XCache seemed to work well and actually provided a nice admin application that lets you peek inside the cache to see what's cached, the hit/miss ratio, etc. eAccelerator also seemed to work well and offered a great performance boost but caused segmentation fault and made the Apache web server unusable. It could have been bad PHP code that was causing the segmentation faults but I didn't really spend any times getting to the root cause. APC just worked, pretty much like XCache but seemed to offer a little better performance. Now I didn't really perform any empirical testing here – I simply relied on my website monitor GrabPERF as I ran each PHP extension for a few days. Your mileage may vary based on your server architecture, application, lunar phase, etc but PHP APC seemed to work the best for me.
Tags: apache, apc, cache, centos, eaccelerator, GrabPERF, java, Linux, optimization, php, Tomcat, xcacheRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 27, 2007
Discover the magic world of software development: GWT-Spring Integration Demistified - The purpose of this blog entry is to explain as simple as possible how GWT and Spring can be brought together and make the the most of your entreprise application. TagCrowd - TagCrowd is a web application for visualizing word frequencies in any user-supplied text by creating what is popularly known as a tag cloud. Granite Data Services Overview - Confluence - Granite Data Services aims to be a free, open source alternative to Adobe Flex 2 Data Services for J2EE application servers JavaScript Crossword Puzzle - Gang Of Four (GOF) Software Design Patterns Crossword This crossword tests your knowledge of software design patterns. RESTEasy - The Site - RESTEasy is a REST framework for Java to create RESTful web services from POJOs, EJB3 Session Beans, Message Driven Beans Enterprise Java Community: Google Web Toolkit Solutions: Cool & Useful Stuff - This Short Cut explores cool stuff you can do with the GWT using two applications: an address book and a Yahoo! trip viewer. Tutorial on Flex using freeware - If you just want to know how to compile mxml file to swf file using the SDK then this tutorial is for you Hello World: Why I don't get Adobe Flex - Why would an architect choose to rely on a proprietary runtime, available only from a single vendor to do stuff that can be done just as easily with standard XHTML, CSS and JavaScript?
Tags: adobe, ajax, css, design+patterns, development, fds, flash, flex, flex2, framework, gof, gwt, J2EE, java, javascript, jaxb, opensource, rest, spring, tagcloud, tagging, tutorial, visualization, web, Web2.0, webservices, xhtml, yahooRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 25, 2007 through Feb 26, 2007
New Articles/Tutorials and Presentation : jMaki Has Moved into High Gear (cld.blog-city.com) - jMaki has been making great progress. It is generating alot of excitement. What is it ? jMaki is about enabling Java developers to use JavaScript in their Java based applications as either a JSP tag library or a JSF component. Speed Up Your Javascript Load Time | BetterExplained - Javascript is becoming increasingly popular on websites, from loading dynamic data via AJAX to adding special effects to your page… with a price If you like to build easy to install JPA-applications - start with TopLink essentials - Java Persistence API (JPA) allows persisting objects in Java SE and EE environments. But JPA is only the API - the SPI (service provider) ist still needed. JPA is already supported by openJPA, Hibernate and TopLink essentials (a part of the Java EE RI). LINUX ON DESKTOP: 13 Things to do immediately after installing Ubuntu - In this article i describe some of the things to do immediately after installing ubuntu on your machine Expose Your POJO-Based Domain Apps as Web Services - This article explains how to expose existing POJO-driven J2EE applications as web services using Axis2
Tags: ajax, AXIS, compression, hibernate, howto, java, javascript, jmaki, jpa, Linux, optimization, programming, rest, spring, toplink, tutorials, ubuntu, Web2.0, webservicesRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 24, 2007
52 Proven Stress Reducers - 52 Proven Stress Reducers Microsoft ponders Ruby language | InfoWorld | News | 2007-02-23 | By Paul Krill - Microsoft is "very interested" in the Ruby programming language and also plans to expand its Expression design tools line OWASP Tiger - OWASP - OWASP Tiger is a Windows application that helps you construct and send a HTTP requests, receive and analyze the responses, match them against a set of conditions to produce alerts, notifications Testing Guide Foreword - OWASP - The problem of insecure software is perhaps the most important technical challenge of our time. Security is now the key limiting factor on what we are able to create with information technology. At OWASP, we're trying to make the world a place where insec Lock it down: Use the revised OWASP Top Ten to secure your Web applications — Part 1 - In the articles to follow, I'll explore the 2007 OWASP Top 10. We'll look at causes for these vulnerabilities and how to defend against potential exploits
Tags: development, health, howto, http, lifehacks, microsoft, owasp, productivity, programming, Ruby, security, software, stress, testing, visual_studio, webRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 23, 2007
jQuery: jQuery and Jack Slocum's Ext - The jQuery Project and Jack Slocum?s Ext Project have partnered to integrate the amazingly lightweight and powerful jQuery framework with Ext?s awesome UI library AJFORM - World's easiest AJAX Forms API / JavaScript ToolKit - AJFORM is a JavaScript toolkit which simply submits data from any given form in an HTML page, then sends the data to any specified JavaScript function Bamboo - Continuous Integration and Build Server - More than a conventional continuous integration (CI) server, Bamboo provides Build Telemetry to help identify and highlight trends, patterns, and linkages across builds ? not just focusing on the results of a single build. Simple Prototype based DHTML Menus - Nice dynamic drop down menus in 50 lines of JavaScript code. Based on prototype.js, these menus are nice because you are in control rather than trying to get some other menu system to do what you want. idea.log: Faster Feedback and Why You Want It: From TDD to CI and Beyond - TDD takes it to the next level, breaking the programming task into even smaller iterations, and simultaneously putting the primary feedback mechanism, testing, at the forefront Jump into JUnit 4 - This tutorial guides you step-by-step through the fundamental concepts of JUnit 4, with emphasis on the new Java 5 annotations
Tags: ajax, ajform, atlassian, build, continuous-integration, development, forms, framework, integration, intellij, java, javascript, jquery, junit, library, menu, programming, prototype, tdd, teamcity, testing, tools, ui, unit-testing, Web2.0, widgets, yahoo, yuiRelated posts
Birthday Tribute to Baby Gavin
Gavin Winslow is beating the odds and is about to celebrate his first birthday. Gavin is my wife's cousin’s son and he was born on February 23, 2006 with end-stage renal failure, or congenital kidney failure. Gavy was born with only 10-15% function in one of his kidneys, and 0% functions in the other. He was admitted to Children’s hospital of Wisconsin immediately after his birth and started on peritoneal dialysis.
Gavin is a fighter and a tough little guy who is beating the odds every day as he gets ready for his kidney transplant. Gavin's family and friends have come together and helped raise $95,778.67 (as of 2/15/07) to help offset the cost of Gavin's transplant and transplant-related expenses. Visit www.savebabygavin.com for more details on Gavin’s journey.
Gavin’s mom Jill and my wife Kristin put together this video to celebrate his first birthday. Check it out and visit www.savebabygavin.com and donate to help Gavin celebrate many more birthdays.
This page contained an embedded video. Click here to view it.
Tags: donate, gavin, gavin_winslow, kidney, transplant, videoRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 20, 2007 through Feb 21, 2007
Bob's Unit Testing Best Practices - Testing Digitally - Having used Agile programming methods for a number of years now. I have come across some best practices for unit testing that I would like to share with you. O'Reilly Open Books Project - O'Reilly has published a number of Open Books–books with various forms of "open" copyright–over the years. Ajaxian - YUI Version 2.2.0 Released - YUI 2.2.0 has been released one year after YUI was released into open source. Yahoo! UI Library: DataTable - The DataTable control provides a simple yet powerful API to display screen-reader accessible tabular data on a web page. Notable features include sortable columns, pagination, scrolling, row selection, resizeable columns, and inline editing. Jump Start Your AJAX Development with the Google Web Toolkit - The Unofficial Google Wiki - A free wiki from Wikia - The Google Web Toolkit addresses the development of an AJAX application in a very methodical manner NetBeans Visual Web Pack 5.5 - Tutorials - Using Hibernate With the NetBeans Visual Web Pack - This tutorial shows you how to use the Hibernate framework in a NetBeans Visual Web Pack project. It also shows how to wrap back end data with Option arrays and ObjectListDataProvider objects for binding to JavaServer Faces components. James Ward?s Blog - Blog Archive - Faster Flex Applications: Shrink Your RSLs - Here is what you need to do if you want to have size optimized RSLs rebelutionary: Enterprise Wikis Replace Shared Drives - Confluence & WebDAV - A lot of people talk about wikis 'replacing' email - which I think is too broad a statement - but very few people focus on the impact wikis have on shared drives Red Hat endorses KVM virtualization | CNET News.com - Red Hat, the dominant Linux seller, will include KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) in the next version of its Fedora Linux v7 Three Hypotheses of Human Interface Design - Tantek's Thoughts - Human interface cognitive load is proportional to the number of clicks/keystrokes/gestures
Tags: ajax, atlassian, attention, books, collaboration, confluence, datatable, design, ebooks, eclipse, enterprise2.0, fedora, flash, flex, flex2, free, google, gui, gwt, hci, hibernate, interface, java, javascript, jsf, junit, KVM, Linux, netbeans, opensource, programming, redhat, reference, rsl, tdd, testing, tips, tutorial, ui, unittest, usability, virtualization, visual, web, Web2.0, webDAV, webdesign, wiki, yahoo, yuiRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 19, 2007
These are my links for Feb 19, 2007:
Census Mashups Using StrikeIron Web Services and Yahoo Maps in Flex 2 - Census Dashboard Mashup is a mashup using StrikeIron's Zip Code Information Web Service, StrikeIron's Population Demographics By ZIP Code Web Service and Yahoo Maps to give detailed information for a specific US zip code. I find it to actually be a really Sun Updates Java Mozilla HTML Parser 1.0.1 - O'Reilly ONJava Blog - Java Mozilla HTML Parser 1.0.1 is a package which allows parsing HTML pages into a Java Document object. Wonder how it stacks up against HtmlCleaner (http://htmlcleaner.sourceforge.net/) dmiessler.com | study | lsof - lsof is the Linux/Unix über-tool. I use it most for getting network connection related information from a system, but that's just the beginning for this amazing and little-known application chalain: So Beautiful, So Disturbing - She gets out of bed and stretches, perfect curves sliding under silky lingerie and momentarily making me forget about breakfast, meatloaf, and whoever it was I was married to before last night. Massive Google hard drive survey turns up very interesting things - Engadget - When your server farm is in the hundreds of thousands and you're using cheap, off-the-shelf hard drives as your primary means of storage, you've probably got a a pretty damned good data set for looking at the health and failure patterns of hard drives Raible Designs | Slick looking Confluence sites - Wicket and Cayenne have nice looking websites backed by Confluence. Wicket has a Writing documentation page that explains how it works. Upselling your architecture - The Pragmatic Architect - As an architect, you'll probably need to present to different audiences at different levels. When you do, it's worth thinking about whether you need to upsell your architecture or not. MyEclipse Delivers Tools to IntelliJ IDEA Users - Developers using IDEA are now able to utilize the MyEclipse Visual HTML Designer, XML Editor, Database Explorer and Image Editor SNAPs directly in their own environment. IntelliJ IDEA: Inspections by Sections … - Static code analysis doesn't just improve your code quality, it can also teach you some cool ideas and best practices about programming Java Power Tools: Home - "Java Power Tools" is about software tools and techniques that can contribute to improving the SDLC which includes build tools such as Maven and Ant, CI tools, code quality tools, testing tools, collaborative tools, source version control, and more! Rod Johnson » Sun's GlassFish Embracing Spring - I think part of what's making Sun more relevant in the enterprise Java space is that they are now more plugged into what's happening in the wider world, and are willing to take the input on board and act on it
Tags: Adaptavist, apache, architecture, book, books, codeanalysis, codereview, computer, confluence, css, dapper, design, development, drive, evangalize, flash, flex, flex2, funny, glassfish, google, hardware, howto, htmlcleaner, htmlparser, Humor, ide, idea, intellij, intellij_idea, J2EE, java, javaee, jax-ws, Linux, lsof, maps, mashup, mozilla, myeclipse, opensource, parser, plugins, programming, raible, reference, research, SOA, spring, spring2.0, SpringFramework, statistics, storage, strikeiron, sysadmin, technology, theme, tips, tool, tools, toread, tutorial, unix, upsell, Vista, Web-Services, webservices, wicket, wiki, windows, xhtml, xml, yahooRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 17, 2007 through Feb 19, 2007
These are my links for Feb 17, 2007 through Feb 19, 2007:
Census Mashups Using StrikeIron Web Services and Yahoo Maps in Flex 2 - Census Dashboard Mashup is a mashup using StrikeIron's Zip Code Information Web Service, StrikeIron's Population Demographics By ZIP Code Web Service and Yahoo Maps to give detailed information for a specific US zip code. I find it to actually be a really Sun Updates Java Mozilla HTML Parser 1.0.1 - O'Reilly ONJava Blog - Java Mozilla HTML Parser 1.0.1 is a package which allows parsing HTML pages into a Java Document object. Wonder how it stacks up against HtmlCleaner (http://htmlcleaner.sourceforge.net/) dmiessler.com | study | lsof - lsof is the Linux/Unix über-tool. I use it most for getting network connection related information from a system, but that's just the beginning for this amazing and little-known application chalain: So Beautiful, So Disturbing - She gets out of bed and stretches, perfect curves sliding under silky lingerie and momentarily making me forget about breakfast, meatloaf, and whoever it was I was married to before last night. Massive Google hard drive survey turns up very interesting things - Engadget - When your server farm is in the hundreds of thousands and you're using cheap, off-the-shelf hard drives as your primary means of storage, you've probably got a a pretty damned good data set for looking at the health and failure patterns of hard drives Raible Designs | Slick looking Confluence sites - Wicket and Cayenne have nice looking websites backed by Confluence. Wicket has a Writing documentation page that explains how it works. Upselling your architecture - The Pragmatic Architect - As an architect, you'll probably need to present to different audiences at different levels. When you do, it's worth thinking about whether you need to upsell your architecture or not. MyEclipse Delivers Tools to IntelliJ IDEA Users - Developers using IDEA are now able to utilize the MyEclipse Visual HTML Designer, XML Editor, Database Explorer and Image Editor SNAPs directly in their own environment. IntelliJ IDEA: Inspections by Sections … - Static code analysis doesn't just improve your code quality, it can also teach you some cool ideas and best practices about programming Java Power Tools: Home - "Java Power Tools" is about software tools and techniques that can contribute to improving the SDLC which includes build tools such as Maven and Ant, CI tools, code quality tools, testing tools, collaborative tools, source version control, and more! Rod Johnson » Sun's GlassFish Embracing Spring - I think part of what's making Sun more relevant in the enterprise Java space is that they are now more plugged into what's happening in the wider world, and are willing to take the input on board and act on it Is Bruce Eckel Right? Maybe not. at Simon?s Blog - Bruce Eckel has written an interesting piece about Java and user interfaces. I?d recommend that you read it, as it?s pretty thought-provoking. The Fishbowl: Job Satisfaction - We spend a lot of time at work. If we?re not doing something that we?re passionate about, that gives us some kind of fulfillment, we?re wasting a big part of our lives. BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » A day at NPR - I've thoroughly enjoyed my day at NPR. Smart people, but then that?s obvious. Coding Horror: The cost of leaving your PC on - So leaving my server on is costing me $200 / year, or $16.68 per month. My home theater PC is a bit more frugal at 65 watts. Using the same formulas, that costs me $81 / year or $6.75 per month. The Future Won?t Be Statically Typed « Skunk Works - I'm more and more convinced that statically typed languages will come to an end, replaced by duck typing based languages
Tags: actionscript, Adaptavist, apache, architecture, article, book, books, bruce_eckel, codeanalysis, codereview, community, computer, confluence, cost, css, dapper, design, development, drive, duck_typing, electricity, Energy, environment, evangalize, flash, flex, flex2, funny, glassfish, google, hardware, howto, htmlcleaner, htmlparser, Humor, ide, idea, intellij, intellij_idea, interesting, J2EE, java, javaee, jax-ws, jobs, languages, lifehacks, Linux, lsof, maps, mashup, media, mozilla, mxml, myeclipse, NPR, opensource, parser, passion, pc, plugins, Podcast, powerconsumption, programming, publicradio, raible, reference, research, Ruby, satisfaction, SOA, spring, spring2.0, SpringFramework, statistics, storage, strikeiron, sysadmin, technology, theme, tips, tool, tools, toread, tutorial, unix, upsell, utilities, Vista, Web-Services, Web2.0, webservices, wicket, wiki, windows, xhtml, xml, yahooRelated posts
Daily del.icio.us for Feb 17, 2007
I'm more and more convinced that statically typed languages will come to an end, replaced by duck typing based languages
So leaving my server on is costing me $200 / year, or $16.68 per month. My home theater PC is a bit more frugal at 65 watts. Using the same formulas, that costs me $81 / year or $6.75 per month.
