CodeIgniter's Future

[eluser]simshaun[/eluser]
Hi

CodeIgniter as it stands supports both PHP4 and PHP5.
Because of this, CodeIgniter comes up short in terms of speed when compared to the "leaner" frameworks which are PHP5 only.

Because many still use PHP4 (even though they shouldn't), I don't see this as being much of a concern, yet.

As you all may know, support for PHP4 has already been dropped, and PHP6 is in the works.
I'm wondering if (hoping) EllisLabs has any plans in the future to make the next "major" release of CodeIgniter PHP5 only. I see it as the only way of keeping up with the majority of other frameworks in terms of performance.

What are your opinions?

[eluser]dimethroxy[/eluser]
Actually Zend Framework is PHP5 only and is way slower than CI.

But I would like to see the support for PHP4 dropped in the next realease of CI for sure.

[eluser]simshaun[/eluser]
Yes I realize Zend is PHP5 only but its not really one of the frameworks I was referring to when I said "leaner". Zend is in no way, shape, or form, leaner.

I'm talking about frameworks gaining in popularity, such as Kohana or maybe even Yii.

Even though CakePHP is PHP4/PHP5 as well, its newest release is still capable of outperforming CodeIgniter.
Don't get me wrong, I love CodeIgniter and I'm a now avid user, but I for one would like to see it drop PHP4 in the future.

[eluser]louis w[/eluser]
Agreed, PHP 4 can go away.

[eluser]Rick Jolly[/eluser]
[quote author="simshaun" date="1231297401"]CodeIgniter comes up short in terms of speed when compared to the "leaner" frameworks which are PHP5 only.
[/quote]
Substantiate that claim. What other php 5 frameworks with comparable features? Show me benchmarks.

That fact is that CI is fast. Php 4 support has little to do with performance.

However, for other reasons I'd like to see php 4 dropped - edit: rather, php 5 features embraced. But Ellislab has been very clear that's not going to happen.

[eluser]simshaun[/eluser]

Substantiate that claim. What other php 5 frameworks with comparable features? Show me benchmarks.

That fact is that CI is fast. Php 4 support has little to do with performance.

However, for other reasons I'd like to see php 4 dropped. But Ellislab has been very clear that's not going to happen.

http://www.yiiframework.com/performance/

Actually, I think a highlight of CodeIgniter is that it works with PHP4, because many still use it. The problem is PHP4 will be fading out soon (otherwise support for it wouldn't have been dropped.). In the future, people who still "need" a PHP4 framework could download the latest stable release of CI with PHP4 support.

I don't expect EllisLab to drop PHP4 support any time soon, but I think dropping it in the future will be necessary if they hope to keep up with others.

[eluser]jalalski[/eluser]
From the Yii benchmarks, it's interesting that if you disregard the use of APC, then CodeIgniter is still amongst the fastest there (Yii squeezes in ahead). I'd say that is pretty impressive anyways. And I'm not sure how much that has to do with using PHP4 and PHP5, I got the impression that on a PHP5 server, then only the PHP5 codebase was included.

[eluser]Popcorn[/eluser]
The only other framework which is similar to CodeIgniter but built with PHP5 would be Kohana and according to benchmarks it performs slightly lower than CodeIgniter.

[eluser]Michael Wales[/eluser]
Plus, when CodeIgniter is running on PHP5 it takes advantage of all the nice little things PHP5 gives us. If EllisLab were to cancel PHP4 support you would see literally no change in the framework.

For anyone that wants CodeIgniter to drop PHP4 support - do this:

Code:

rm system/codeigniter/Base4.php

Yippee! We're on the cutting edge now!

[eluser]simshaun[/eluser]
I was under the impression all the CI libs were built for PHP4.
Is there no way they could be improved if it were PHP5 only?