PHP OpCode? What's that?

Every PHP developer heard about OpCode, the magical sauce that runs inside the Zend PHP Engine in order to boost performances.

But what is exactly that OpCode? Why does it make the Zend Engine faster to run your PHP Code? Is it only about performances?

The aim of this talk is to demystify what's going on inside the Zend PHP Engine and to understand what is happening to our PHP code when it's digested by the interpreter and turned into opcode, before being executed on the Zend Virtual Machine.

Transcript

1. PHP OpCode
   PHP OpCode
   PHP OpCode
   What's That?
   What's That?
   What's That?
   Benoit Jacquemont
   Benoit Jacquemont
   Benoit Jacquemont
   @bjacquemont
   @bjacquemont
   @bjacquemont
   

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2. What Happen To Our Code At
   Execution Time?
   $myVar = "World";
   echo "Hello ".$myVar."!\n";
   

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3. Lexing/Tokenizing
   Use the Tokenizer Extension
   $myVar = "World";
   echo "Hello ".$myVar."!\n";
   Line 1: T_OPEN_TAG ('')
   Line 2: T_WHITESPACE (' ')
   Line 2: T_VARIABLE ('$myVar')
   Line 2: T_WHITESPACE (' ')
   string(1) "="
   Line 2: T_WHITESPACE (' ')
   Line 2: T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING ('"World"')
   string(1) ";"
   Line 2: T_WHITESPACE ('
   ')
   Line 3: T_ECHO ('echo')
   Line 3: T_WHITESPACE (' ')
   Line 3: T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING ('"Hello "')
   string(1) "."
   Line 3: T_VARIABLE ('$myVar')
   string(1) "."
   Line 3: T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING ('"!\n"')
   string(1) ";"
   Line 3: T_WHITESPACE ('
   ')
   

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4. Parsing To Abstract Syntax Tree
   $myVar = "World";
   echo "Hello ".$myVar."!\n";
   

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5. Compilation: AST To Opcode
   Real value
   $myVar = "World";
   echo "Hello ".$myVar."!\n";
   L0 (2): ASSIGN CV0($myVar) string("World")
   L1 (3): T2 = CONCAT string("Hello ") CV0($myVar)
   L2 (3): T3 = CONCAT T2 string("!
   ")
   L3 (3): ECHO T3
   L4 (4): RETURN int(1)
   0x26 CV0 0x2b46aa8
   T2 = 0x08 0x2b49250 CV0
   T3 = 0x08 T2 0x2b489f0
   0x28 T3
   0x3E 0x01
   

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6. Opcode, Opline And Oparray
   opcode: instruction to execute
   opline: instruction with operands (0-2) and optional
   return assignement
   oparray: sequence of oplines (function, closure, main)
   CONCAT (0x08)
   T2 = CONCAT string("Hello ") CV0
   ASSIGN CV0 string("World")
   T2 = CONCAT string("Hello ") CV0
   ECHO T2
   RETURN int(1)
   

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15. Execution Of The Opcode
    By The Zend VM
    

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24. Opcodes Are The
    Instructions Of The VM
    Virtual Processor
    

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25. PHP
    Version
    Zend Engine
    Version
    Opcodes
    count
    4.x 1 ~130
    5.x 2 167
    7.x 3 172
    8.x 4 207
    Source: Zend/zend_vm_opcodes.h
    

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26. Why A VM?
    Reason #1
    Performances!
    

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27. Why A VM?
    Reason #2
    Abstraction Over The Architecture
    And Hardware
    

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28. Let's Dive Into
    Let's Dive Into
    Let's Dive Into
    Opcode!
    Opcode!
    Opcode!
    

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29. How To Display Opcode
    VLD Extension (from Derick Rethans)
    (https://pecl.php.net/package/vld)
    php opcache debug (since PHP 7.1)
    $ php -dvld.active=1 test.php
    $ php -d opcache.opt_debug_level=0x10000 test.php
    

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30. Hello World In Opcode!
    echo "Hello World !";
    $_main:
    L0: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L1: RETURN int(1)
    

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31. What About Variables?
    $msg = "Hello World!";
    echo $msg;
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($msg) string("Hello World!")
    L1: ECHO CV0($msg)
    L2: RETURN int(1)
    

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32. More Complex Variables
    $a = 1;
    $b = 2;
    $result = $a + $b + 3;
    echo $result;
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($a) int(1)
    L1: ASSIGN CV1($b) int(2)
    L2: T5 = ADD CV0($a) CV1($b)
    L3: T6 = ADD T5 int(3)
    L4: ASSIGN CV2($result) T6
    L5: ECHO CV2($result)
    L6: RETURN int(1)
    

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33. Control Structures
    

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34. If/Else
    $test = true;
    if ($test) {
    echo "Hello World!";
    } else {
    echo "Bye World!";
    }
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($test) bool(true)
    L1: JMPZ CV0($test) L4
    L2: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L3: JMP L5
    L4: ECHO string("Bye World!")
    L5: RETURN int(1)
    

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35. While
    $test = true;
    while ($test) {
    echo "Hello World!";
    $test = false;
    }
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($test) bool(true)
    L1: JMP L4
    L2: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L3: ASSIGN CV0($test) bool(false)
    L4: JMPNZ CV0($test) L2
    L5: RETURN int(1)
    

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36. For
    for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
    echo "Hello World!";
    }
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($i) int(0)
    L1: JMP L5
    L2: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L3: T2 = POST_INC CV0($i)
    L4: FREE T2
    L5: T3 = IS_SMALLER CV0($i) int(10)
    L6: JMPNZ T3 L2
    L7: RETURN int(1)
    

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37. All Control Structures
    Can Be Implemented By
    JMP And IS_* Opcodes
    

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38. Why A VM?
    Reason #3
    Keep PHP expressiveness while really executing a
    simpler language
    

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39. A Hypothetical Control
    Structure: Forever
    New Language Feature, But No
    Need To Change The VM
    forever {
    echo "Hello World!";
    }
    $_main:
    L0: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L1: JMP L0
    

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40. Internal Functions
    echo microtime();
    $_main:
    L0: INIT_FCALL 0 string("microtime")
    L1: V0 = DO_ICALL
    L2: ECHO V0
    L3: RETURN int(1)
    

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41. Internal Functions With
    Parameters
    $subject = "Such a nice message!";
    str_replace("nice", "cool", $subject);
    $_main:
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($subject) string("Such a nice message!")
    L1: INIT_FCALL 3 string("str_replace")
    L2: SEND_VAL string("nice") 1
    L3: SEND_VAL string("cool") 2
    L4: SEND_VAR CV0($subject) 3
    L5: DO_ICALL
    L6: RETURN int(1)
    

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42. User Function
    function hello($name) {
    echo "Hello $name!";
    }
    hello("World");
    $_main:
    L0: NOP
    L1: INIT_FCALL 1 string("hello")
    L2: SEND_VAL string("World") 1
    L3: DO_UCALL
    L4: RETURN int(1)
    hello:
    L0: CV0($name) = RECV 1
    L1: T1 = CONCAT string("Hello ") CV0($name)
    L2: T2 = CONCAT T1 string("!")
    L3: ECHO T2
    L4: RETURN null
    

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43. Inheritance
    abstract class MyParentClass {
    function helloWorld() {
    echo "Hello World";
    }
    }
    class MyChildClass extends MyParentClass{}
    $object = new MyChildClass();
    $object->helloWorld();
    $_main:
    L0: V4 = NEW 0 string("MyChildClass")
    L1: DO_FCALL
    L2: ASSIGN CV0($object) V4
    L3: INIT_METHOD_CALL 0 CV0($object) string("helloWorld")
    L4: DO_FCALL
    L5: RETURN int(1)
    MyParentClass::helloWorld
    L0: ECHO string("Hello World")
    L1: RETURN null
    

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53. Opcode Cache: Monitoring
    $status = opcache_get_status();
    $status["memory_usage"]["used_memory"]
    $status["memory_usage"]["free_memory"]
    $status["opcache_statistics"]["num_cached_keys"]
    $status["opcache_statistics"]["max_cached_keys"]
    $status["opcache_statistics"]["opcache_hit_rate"]
    

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54. Opcode Cache: Memory Settings
    default 64 MB
    increase when free_memory~0
    opcache.memory_consumption
    

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55. Opcode Cache: Num Keys Settings
    default 2000
    inc when num_cached_keys~max_cached_keys
    The actual value used will be the rst number in the set of prime
    numbers {463, 983, 1979, 3907, 7963, 16229, 32531, 65407,
    130987} that is greater than or equal to the con gured value.
    opcache.max_accelerated_files
    

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58. The Opcode Optimizer
    Multipass Static Analysis To
    Optimize The Generated Opcode
    

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59. Optimizer
    Before And After Opcodes
    Before optimizer
    After optimizer
    $ php -d opcache.opt_debug_level=0x10000 test.php
    $ php -d opcache.opt_debug_level=0x20000 test.php
    

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60. Optimizer - Before And After
    Before After
    if ("foo") {
    echo "Foo!";
    } else {
    echo "Not Foo!";
    }
    L0: JMPZ string("foo") L3
    L1: ECHO string("Foo!")
    L2: JMP L4
    L3: ECHO string("Not Foo!")
    L4: RETURN int(1)
    L0: ECHO string("Foo!")
    L1: RETURN int(1)
    

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61. Optimizer - Before And After
    Before After
    for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
    echo "Hello World!";
    }
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($i) int(0)
    L1: JMP L5
    L2: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L3: T2 = POST_INC CV0($i)
    L4: FREE T2
    L5: T3 = IS_SMALLER CV0($i) 10
    L6: JMPNZ T3 L2
    L7: RETURN int(1)
    L0: ASSIGN CV0($i) int(0)
    L1: JMP L4
    L2: ECHO string("Hello World!")
    L3: PRE_INC CV0($i)
    L4: T1 = IS_SMALLER CV0($i) 10
    L5: JMPNZ T1 L2
    L6: RETURN int(1)
    

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62. Optimizer - Performances?
    

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63. What's Next?
    What's Next?
    What's Next?
    

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64. PHP 8 Just In Time
    Compilation
    From opcodes, generating real CPU instructions to
    execute them directly on the hardware
    

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69. PHP 8 JIT - Current State
    5x speedup on number crunching bench.php, but...
    ... -0.01% performance on real world applications
    Main idea: allow PHP to enter areas where it's not
    used yet
    github.com/zendtech/php-src/tree/jit-dynasm/
    

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70. PHP 7.4 Preload
    The Main Opcache Limitation
    Opcache caches opcode but at le level
    classes and functions still need to be reloaded into
    the process memory
    

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71. PHP 7.4 Preload
    What It Will Do
    Permanently load in the server memory functions
    and classes
    Once loaded, these classes will be available directly,
    like builtins (\Exception)
    

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72. PHP 7.4 Preload
    How It Will Do It
    At server start, runs a PHP script that will load the
    needed le
    

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73. PHP 7.4 Preload
    What Can We Expect From It
    ZF2 Hello world app: 2x requests per second
    If application fully loaded, no need for autoload
    anymore
    

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74. Key Takeaways
    opcodes are the instructions of the Zend virtual CPU
    use opcode cache!
    monitor your opcode cache
    check out preload for PHP 7.4 (ETA end of the year)
    

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75. For More Information
    Nikita Popov's Blog (nikic.github.io)
    Julien Pauli's Blog (blog.jpauli.tech)
    Preload RFC
    PHP 7 Virtual Machine
    PHP's OPCache extension
    wiki.php.net/rfc/preload
    

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76. Thank You!
    Questions?
    @bjacquemont
    www.akeneo.com
    

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