PHP Activist

Lessons learned:

• Foreach is 4-5 times faster than For
• Nested Foreach is 2-3 times faster than nested For
• Foreach with key lookup is 2-3 times slower than Foreach without
• C++ is 5-300 times faster than PHP running For/Foreach on Arrays
• HHVM is 2-6 times faster than PHP
• HHVM is currently no alternative to C++
• Javascript is 2-20 times slower than C++/Java running For on nested Arrays

Here is a sample script:

<?php
function test(){
// init arrays
$array = array();
for ($i=0; $i<50000; $i++) $array[] = $i*2;

$array2 = array();
for ($i=20000; $i<21000; $i++) $array2[] = $i*2;

// test1: foreach big-array (foreach small-array)
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array as $val) {
  foreach ($array2 as $val2) if ($val == $val2) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test1b: foreach big-array (foreach small-array)
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array as $val) {
  foreach ($array2 as $val2) if ($val === $val2) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test2: foreach small-array (foreach big-array)
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array2 as $val2) {
  foreach ($array as $val) if ($val == $val2) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test3: foreach big-array (foreach small-array) with key lookup
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array as $key=>$val) {
  foreach ($array2 as $key2=>$val2) if ($array[$key] == $array2[$key2]) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test4: foreach small-array (foreach big-array) with key lookup
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array2 as $key=>$val2) {
  foreach ($array as $val) if ($array[$key] == $array2[$key2]) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test5: for big-array (for small-array)
$start = microtime(true);
$count = count($array);
$count2 = count($array2);
for ($key=0; $key<$count; $key++) {
  for ($key2=0; $key2<$count2; $key2++) if ($array[$key] == $array2[$key2]) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test6: for small-array (for big-array)
$start = microtime(true);
$count = count($array);
$count2 = count($array2);
for ($key2=0; $key2<$count2; $key2++) {
  for ($key=0; $key<$count; $key++) if ($array[$key] == $array2[$key2]) {}
}
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

$array = array();
for ($i=0; $i<1000000; $i++) $array[] = $i*2;

// test7: foreach big-array
$start = microtime(true);
foreach ($array as &$val) $val++;
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test8: for big-array
$start = microtime(true);
for ($key=0; $key<count($array); $key++) $array[$key]++;
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";

// test8b: for big-array, doing count() outside the loop!
$start = microtime(true);
$count = count($array);
for ($key=0; $key<$count; $key++) $array[$key]++;
echo number_format(microtime(true)-$start, 2)."s\n";
}
test();

Here are some results from PHP 5.4.4 and HHVM (2014-05-04, QEMU 2.3 GHz, 64bit):

php	hhvm
2.78s	0.47s
2.90s	0.44s
2.97s	0.44s
6.90s	1.36s
6.27s	1.33s
5.83s	1.13s
6.24s	1.15s
0.07s	0.04s
0.24s	0.04s
0.11s	0.03s

Using HHVM instead of PHP gives big improvements.

With Javascript (node.js) you'll get similar values:
example.js (run: node example.js)

var array = [];
for (i=0; i<50000; i++) array.push(i*2);

var array2 = [];
for (i=20000; i<21000; i++) array2.push(i*2);

// js-test1: for big-array (for small array)
var start = new Date().getTime();
for (key=0; key<array.length; key++) {
  for (key2=0; key2<array2.length; key2++) if (array[key] == array2[key2]) {}
}
console.log((new Date().getTime() - start) / 1000); // 1.53s

// js-test2: foreach big-array (foreach small array)
var start = new Date().getTime();
for (key in array) {
  for (key2 in array2) if (array[key] == array2[key2]) {}
}
console.log((new Date().getTime() - start) / 1000); // 6.32s

var array = [];
for (i=0; i<1000000; i++) array.push(i*2);

// js-test3: for big-array
var start = new Date().getTime();
for (key=0; key<array.length; key++) array[key]++;
console.log((new Date().getTime() - start) / 1000); // 0.03s

tested with QEMU 2.3 GHz, node.js v0.10

With C++ (gcc 4.6 win32) you'll also get similar values:
example.cpp (run: g++ -o example example.cpp && ./example)

#include <sys/time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;

main() {
  struct timeval start, end;

  vector<int> array;
  for(int i=0; i < 50000; i++) array.push_back(i*2);

  vector<int> array2;
  for(int i=20000; i < 21000; i++) array2.push_back(i*2);

  gettimeofday(&start, NULL);
  for (int key=0; key<array.size(); key++)
    for (int key2=0; key2<array2.size(); key2++)
      if (array[key] == array2[key2]) {}

  gettimeofday(&end, NULL);
  printf("%lf\n", (float)(end.tv_sec - start.tv_sec +
    (end.tv_usec - start.tv_usec)/1000000.0)); // 0.61s, 0.00s (-O3)

  vector<int> array3;
  for(int i=0; i < 1000000; i++) array3.push_back(i*2);

  gettimeofday(&start, NULL);
  for(int i=0; i < array3.size(); i++) array3[i]++;
  gettimeofday(&end, NULL);
  printf("%lf\n", (float)(end.tv_sec - start.tv_sec +
    (end.tv_usec - start.tv_usec)/1000000.0)); // 0.009s, 0.001s (-O3)
}

tested with QEMU 2.3 GHz, gcc 4.7

And finally Java (Java 1.7 win64):

example.java (run: javac -g:none example.java && java example)

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Vector;

public class example {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

    ArrayList<Integer> array = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 50000; i++) array.add(i*2);

    ArrayList<Integer> array2 = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    for (int i = 20000; i < 21000; i++) array2.add(i*2);

    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
    for (int key = 0; key < array.size(); key++)
      for (int key2 = 0; key2 < array2.size(); key2++)
        if (array.get(key).equals(array2.get(key2))) {}
    System.out.println((float) (System.currentTimeMillis() - start) / 1000);
    // 0.066s

    ArrayList<Integer> array3 = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) array3.add(i*2);

    start = System.currentTimeMillis();
    for (int i = 0; i < array3.size(); i++) array3.set(i, array3.get(i)+1);
    System.out.println((float)(System.currentTimeMillis() - start) / 1000);
    // 0.164s


    Vector<Integer> varray = new Vector<Integer>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 50000; i++) varray.add(i*2);

    Vector<Integer> varray2 = new Vector<Integer>();
    for (int i = 20000; i < 21000; i++) varray2.add(i*2);

    start = System.currentTimeMillis();
    for (int key = 0; key < varray.size(); key++)
      for (int key2 = 0; key2 < varray2.size(); key2++)
        if (varray.get(key).equals(varray2.get(key2))) {}
    System.out.println((float) (System.currentTimeMillis() - start) / 1000);
    // 1.652s

    Vector<Integer> varray3 = new Vector<Integer>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) varray3.add(i*2);

    start = System.currentTimeMillis();
    for (int i = 0; i < varray3.size(); i++) varray3.set(i, varray3.get(i)+1);
    System.out.println((float)(System.currentTimeMillis() - start) / 1000);
    // 0.074s
  }
}

tested with QEMU 2.3 GHz, OpenJDK 1.6, 64bit