Design and implementation of an ahead-of-time compiler for PHP

Abstract

In recent years the importance of dynamic scripting languages -such as PHP, Python, Ruby and Javascript - has grown as they are used for an increasing amounts of sortware development. Scripting languages provide high-level language features, a fast compile-modify-test environment for rapid prototyping, strong integration with database and web development systems, and extensive standard libraries. -- In this dissertation we argue that ahead-of-time compilation of scripting languages is both possible and valuable. We present phc, an ahead-of-time compiler for the PHP language. We describe the design and implementation of the compiler, and identify specific challenges in the design of a compiler for a dynamic scripting language.