PHP Vs. Java Scalability
PHP and Java are two popular programming languages for use in software delivered over the Web or embedded in Web pages. PHP in particular is the native language of Web development platforms such as WordPress and Drupal. PHP and Java are handled differently by the Web servers hosting such programming, making the choice of languages an important concern when considering the design of high-traffic websites.
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Scalability
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Scalability refers to the problem of how an individual Web server ramps up to handle larger quantities of Web traffic. Most Web servers can handle small-to-medium amounts of traffic with no difficulty; any modern computer is fast enough to deal with information requests for the average website. However, a tipping point is reached when the computer's processors are no longer fast enough to handle all incoming requests, as at that point, a major architecture revision is usually necessary to split the incoming traffic across multiple servers. Languages and Web authoring systems that handle this transition gracefully are considered to be scalable to high amounts of web traffic, while Web implementations that make this more difficult are not scalable.
PHP and Java Architectures
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Neither PHP nor Java applications are run by the same software that handles the Web server, in all but a very few specialized cases. PHP and Java applications are instead handed off to a secondary application that runs the requested program, then passes this information back for display in the Web browser. PHP applications are "server-side," which means that they are run by PHP software on the server and only the result of the application is sent over the Web. Java applications can be either server-side or "client-side," in the latter case sending the entire Java application to the user for operation on the same computer as the browser. Server-side architectures are more sensitive to increases in traffic than client-side, as every new request increases the amount of work the CPU must complete.
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Compilation Effects
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PHP is an interpreted language, which means that whenever PHP applications are run, the server must first convert the program from its programming language into the binary operations that make up all computer software. Java, on the other hand, can be compiled into binary in advance, which removes this step from the process of running a program. Compiled programs are typically faster and require less processor time than interpreted programs, but interpreted programs can also be very efficient until the maximum load of the Web server is reached.
Scalability Approaches
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Scalability is rarely an all-or-nothing process. Most websites never reach the amounts of traffic at which scalability becomes an issue. Website administrators can track this by watching how much processor usage is required on their Web server under normal operation; if the processor regularly runs at a fraction of its maximum capacity, there is plenty of headroom for traffic to increase without hitting a scalability problem. Administrators who foresee an upcoming issue can first use the load-balancing tools built in to their Web server to spread the processor needs over multiple computers, or rewrite Web programs that are frequently used for greater efficiency. Only the highest-volume website administrators will need to rewrite their software in compiled languages in order to make their sites maximally scalable.
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