Getting started with ReactPHP – Pushing real-time data to the browser (PHPYorkshire)

Think about "PHP" for a few seconds… What came to mind? It’s very likely you thought about your average product catalog, a blogging platform or how the platform is inferior to things like Node.js. But wait, it’s 2018! What if I told you PHP’s huge ecosystem has way more to offer and PHP is not inferior at all to its evil cousin Node.js?

In this hands-on tutorial you will learn about the core concepts of async PHP and why you too should care about ReactPHP being a real thing. The workshop has a strong focus on sparking the idea that PHP can be way faster and more versatile than you probably thought. Bring along an open mind and through lots of interesting examples and live demos learn why what sounds crazy at first might soon be a valuable addition in your toolbox.

You’re already familiar with PHP and want to learn what ReactPHP is all about? Then this tutorial is for you! We will start from scratch and build a demo application that pushes data from your command line in real-time to your browser. Several scenarios are prepared, but ideally you bring in your own ideas: Let’s build an interactive chat bot, an interactive CLI tool or even an actual desktop GUI, it’s up to you!

The tutorial assumes people are familiar with PHP, have PHP and their favorite IDE already setup, but does not require people to be familiar with ReactPHP.

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These slides were used as part of a hands-on workshop at @PHPYorkshire. The full workshop took 3h with basic project setup, getting started with ReactPHP's core components and eventually implementing an HTTP server using Server-Sent Events (EventSource).

Resulting source code can be found here: https://gist.github.com/clue/6ba091ed298b1ecec528a3a6c201a2d1

Transcript

1. getting started with ReactPHP pushing real time data to the browser
2. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP 2
3. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops 3
4. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data 4
5. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets 5
6. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises 6
7. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data 7
8. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data - Streaming HTTP 8
9. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data - Streaming HTTP - Chat bots 9
10. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data - Streaming HTTP - Chat bots - interactive CLI tools 10
11. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data - Streaming HTTP - Chat bots - interactive CLI tools - desktop GUI 11
12. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - real time data - Streaming HTTP - Chat bots - interactive CLI tools - desktop GUI - Conclusions 12
13. really? 13
14. this is YOUR workshop 14
15. you need: Composer + wifi 15
16. I encourage feedback, questions + suggestions 16
17. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises 17
18. Agenda - Hello! - Introduction to async PHP with ReactPHP - event loops - streaming data - sockets - promises - event-driven, streaming application development - Conclusions 18
19. Hello! 19
20. $ whoami 20
21. $ whoami Christian Lück 21
22. $ whoami Christian Lück 22
23. $ whoami Christian Lueck 23
24. $ whoami Christian Lueck 24
25. $ whoami Christian Lueck @clue 25
26. $ whoami Christian Lueck @another_clue 26
27. $ whoami Christian Lueck @another_clue passionate about pushing the limits 27
28. $ whoami Christian Lueck @another_clue passionate about pushing the limits freelance software engineer 28
29. Who are you? 29 now that you know me…
30. Who are you? 30 now that you know me… - PHP developers? - architecs / engineers?
31. Who are you? 31 now that you know me… - PHP developers? - architecs / engineers? - know React?
33. The other React™ 33
34. The REAL React™ 34
35. PHP, the web of the ‘90s? 35
36. PHP and the web of the ‘90s - traditional LAMP stack - Request-Response-Cycle - PHP is too slow? 36 Apache Client PHP MySQL
37. PHP and the web of the ‘90s - traditional LAMP stack - Request-Response-Cycle - PHP is too slow? - We sure can improve this… 37 Apache Client PHP MySQL
38. PHP and the web of the ‘90s - traditional LAMP stack - Request-Response-Cycle - PHP is too slow? - We sure can improve this… 38 Apache Client PHP MySQL Apache Client FPM MySQL PHP PHP
39. PHP and the web of the ‘90s - traditional LAMP stack - Request-Response-Cycle - PHP is too slow? - We sure can improve this… 39 Apache Client PHP MySQL Apache Client FPM MySQL PHP PHP nginx Client FPM MySQL PHP PHP
40. PHP and the web of the ‘90s - traditional LAMP stack - Request-Response-Cycle - PHP is too slow? - We sure can improve this… 40 Apache Client PHP MySQL Apache Client FPM MySQL PHP PHP nginx Client FPM MySQL PHP PHP nginx Client FPM memcache PHP PHP MySQL
41. PHP may not be pretty… 41
42. PHP may not be pretty… but it gets the job done! 42
43. Knock knock! Who’s there? 43
44. Knock knock! 2018! Who’s there? 44
45. Knock knock! 2018! - Separation of concerns (Frontend↔Backend) - HTTP APIs (RESTful) - Integration with 3rd parties - Live-Data (ticker) - CLI tools Who’s there? 45
46. nodejs? 46
47. no js! 47
48. Enter React! 48
49. What is React? 49
50. What is React? non-blocking I/O 50
51. What is React? non-blocking I/O event-driven 51
52. What is React? non-blocking I/O event-driven async 52
53. 100% 53
54. 100% pure PHP 54
55. 100% pure PHP no extensions 55
56. 100% pure PHP no extensions no magic 56
57. What does that even mean?! 57
58. the idea 58
59. the idea calculations are fast 59
60. the idea calculations are fast I/O is slow 60
61. I/O is everywhere 61
62. I/O is everywhere third party HTTP APIs (RESTful, SOAP, you name it…) 62
63. I/O is everywhere third party HTTP APIs (RESTful, SOAP, you name it…) mysql, postgres 63
64. I/O is everywhere third party HTTP APIs (RESTful, SOAP, you name it…) mysql, postgres filesystem I/O (session files) 64
65. I/O is everywhere third party HTTP APIs (RESTful, SOAP, you name it…) mysql, postgres filesystem I/O (session files) redis, memcache 65
66. 66 Source: Latency Numbers Every Programmer Should Know: https://gist.github.com/jboner/2841832 CPU vs I/O
67. I/O is slow! 67
68. I/O is slow! So why wait? 68
69. This is React 69
70. This is React 70 Start multiple I/O operations (non-blocking)
71. This is React 71 Start multiple I/O operations (non-blocking) Get notified when something happens (react)
72. This is React 72 Start multiple I/O operations (non-blocking) Get notified when something happens (react) Don’t waste time waiting
73. What React is not 73
74. What React is not React is not black magic / vodoo 74
75. What React is not React is not black magic / vodoo React is not a framework 75
76. What React is not React is not black magic / vodoo React is not a framework React is not the new buzz 76
77. React core components 77
78. event loops 78
79. Event loop Consumers - THE core, low-level component 79
80. Event loop Consumers - THE core, low-level component - Create an instance - Just use the Factory - Additional extensions for bigger payloads - something inbetween… - just pass the $loop around - Start running - keeps running forever - unless stopped or done 80
81. Event loop Consumers - THE core, low-level component - Create an instance - Just use the Factory - Additional extensions for bigger payloads - something inbetween… - just pass the $loop around - Start running - keeps running forever - unless stopped or done 81 $loop = Factory::create(); // something inbetween // pass the $loop around to all components $loop->run();
82. Event loop Implementors - Reactor pattern (hence the name) 82
83. Event loop Implementors - Reactor pattern (hence the name) - start timers - once - periodic - ticks 83 $loop->addTimer(0.5, function () { echo ‘world’; }); $loop->addTimer(0.3, function () { echo ‘hello’; });
84. Event loop Implementors - Reactor pattern (hence the name) - start timers - once - periodic - ticks - wait for stream resources to become - readable - writable 84 $loop->addTimer(0.5, function () { echo ‘world’; }); $loop->addTimer(0.3, function () { echo ‘hello’; }); $loop->addReadStream($stream, $fn); $loop->addWriteStream($stream, $fn);
86. streaming data 86
87. Streams - Process large strings in chunks as they happen (think downloads) - Types - Readable (e.g. STDIN pipe) - Writable (e.g. STDOUT pipe) - Duplex (e.g. TCP/IP connection) 87
88. Streams - interfaces, events and listeners: 88 $dest->write(‘hello’); $source->on(‘data’, function ($data) { var_dump($data); }); $source->on(‘close’, function () { echo ‘stream closed’; });
89. Streams - interfaces, events and listeners: 89 $dest->write(‘hello’); $source->on(‘data’, function ($data) { var_dump($data); }); $source->on(‘close’, function () { echo ‘stream closed’; }); $source->pipe($gunzip)->pipe($badwords)->pipe($dest);
91. sockets 91
92. Sockets 92 - Streams, but over the network
93. Sockets 93 - Streams, but over the network - servers listen - clients connect
94. Sockets 94 - Streams, but over the network - servers listen - clients connect - Focus on TCP/IP (UDP etc. also possible)
96. Sockets in practice 96
97. Sockets in practice - implementation detail 97
98. Sockets in practice - implementation detail - higher level protocols (HTTP anybody) 98
99. Sockets in practice - implementation detail - higher level protocols (HTTP anybody) - higher level concepts (RESTful etc.) 99
100. Sockets in practice - implementation detail - higher level protocols (HTTP anybody) - higher level concepts (RESTful etc.) - higher level APIs (SDKs, API clients etc.) 100
101. Sockets in practice - implementation detail - higher level protocols (HTTP anybody) - higher level concepts (RESTful etc.) - higher level APIs (SDKs, API clients etc.) - Concepts still apply, details are hidden 101
102. promises 102
103. Promises - Placeholder for a single future result - Possible states: - pending - fulfilled (successfully resolved) - rejected (Exception occured) 103
104. Promises - no more imperative code flow - instead (tell, don’t ask) 104 $a->then($fulfilled = null, $rejected = null); $a->then(‘process’); $a->then(‘process’, ‘var_dump’);
105. Promises in practice - Everywhere! - react/socket - clue/buzz-react - clue/packagist-react - clue/redis-react - react/mysql 105
107. HTTP streaming 107
108. HTTP streaming 108 - HTTP request/response semantics - streaming responses (download huge files) - streaming requests (upload huge files) - Still request/response semantics - Long-polling (Comet) anyone?
109. EventSource 109
110. Server-Sent Events (SSE) / EventSource 110
111. Server-Sent Events in a gist 111 - Normal Request/Response - Client API for streaming access
112. Server-Sent Events in a gist 112 - Normal Request/Response - Client API for streaming access HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/event-stream
113. Server-Sent Events in a gist 113 - Normal Request/Response - Client API for streaming access HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/event-stream data: hello
114. Server-Sent Events in a gist 114 - Normal Request/Response - Client API for streaming access HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/event-stream data: hello data: world
116. Server sent events clue/sse-react - Server sent events (SSE) - aka. EventSource (browser API) - Streaming events to browser - limited browser support 116
117. WebSocket 117
118. WebSocket 118 - HTTP Upgrade - Binary protocol - Bidirectional communication - Do you need this?
119. Websocket server cboden/ratchet - Async WebSocket server - bidirectional data flow between browser and server - better browser support 119
120. GUIs 120
121. Zenity clue/zenity-react - PHP desktop GUI applications - very simple, Promise-based 121
123. many, MANY more third-party projects: https://github.com/reactphp/react/wiki/Users 123
124. Conclusions 124
125. PHP 125
126. PHP faster than you probably thought 126
127. PHP faster than you probably thought more versatile than you probably thought 127
128. ReactPHP 128
129. ReactPHP 129 a real deal and here to stay
130. ReactPHP 130 a real deal and here to stay stable & production ready
131. ReactPHP 131 a real deal and here to stay stable & production ready *awesome*
132. try! 132
133. try! whenever having to wait 133
134. try! whenever having to wait whenever accessing network 134
135. Need help? Want to help? - check each component’s README - check open issues 135
136. Need help? Want to help? - check each component’s README - check open issues - join #reactphp on irc.freenode.org - tweet @ReactPHP or #reactphp 136
137. Need help? Want to help? - check each component’s README - check open issues - join #reactphp on irc.freenode.org - tweet @ReactPHP or #reactphp - Talk to me 137
138. Need help? Want to help? - check each component’s README - check open issues - join #reactphp on irc.freenode.org - tweet @ReactPHP or #reactphp - Talk to me Did I mention I’m available? 138
139. // thank you! $loop->stop(); 139 @another_clue – https://lueck.tv/
140. Avoid blocking! - The loop must not be blocked 140
141. Avoid blocking! - The loop must not be blocked - Many functions / lib assume blocking by default - Anything >1ms should be reconsidered 141
142. Avoid blocking! - The loop must not be blocked - Many functions / lib assume blocking by default - Anything >1ms should be reconsidered - Alternatives - Single result: Promises - Evented: Streams 142
143. Avoid blocking! - The loop must not be blocked - Many functions / lib assume blocking by default - Anything >1ms should be reconsidered - Alternatives - Single result: Promises - Evented: Streams - Need a blocking function? - Fork off! - Use IPC 143
144. Avoid blocking! - The loop must not be blocked - Many functions / lib assume blocking by default - Anything >1ms should be reconsidered - Alternatives - Single result: Promises - Evented: Streams - Need a blocking function? - Fork off! - Use IPC 144 Pay attention: - PDO, mysql etc. - file system access - network access - third-party APIs
145. Integration with traditional environments 145 integrating async into sync is easy
146. Integration with traditional environments 146 integrating async into sync is easy - just run the loop until you’re done - see clue/block-react
147. Integration with traditional environments 147 integrating async into sync is easy - just run the loop until you’re done - see clue/block-react integrating sync into async is hard
148. Integration with traditional environments 148 integrating async into sync is easy - just run the loop until you’re done - see clue/block-react integrating sync into async is hard - often requires async rewrite - consider forking instead