Sebastian Bergmann (Jun 13, 2009)
Talk at Dutch PHP Conference 2009 (English - US)
In this presentation we introduce a new language construct to demonstrate how one might go about modifying the PHP interpreter. The internals of which follow a pattern common to many language implementations, with lexical analysis, parsing, code generation, and execution phases.
By the end of the presentation, it is hoped the audience will see that contributing to the PHP language core is not necessarily as difficult as it might seem.
Quicklink: http://joind.in/582
Slides: PHP Compiler Internals
Jun 13, 2009, 10:53 by Dynom
It gave some insight into what parts are involved into adding functionality (not extension related) and some background information about the scanner(s), etc. It is a topic for a special crowed I think, but you handled it quite well.
Jun 13, 2009, 10:59 by rooster
It's probably impossible to make an internals talk "fun" so rating that would be unfair - but the talk was informative and clear, with solid examples. Sebastian was willing to go the extra mile to take us through the process step by step. Whilst I wouldn't recommend the talk to everybody - for those that wanted what it said on the tin, it delivered.
Jun 13, 2009, 12:10 by Anonymous
It's amazing how the complex stuff about the php compiler was explained in a very clear and relatively easy to understand way. To be honest when I left I thought this compiler stuff is actually less hard to understand than I thought at first.
Jun 13, 2009, 12:20 by rewbs
Thanks Sebastian, great talk. Awesome to see an example language feature being implemented end-to-end.
Jun 13, 2009, 20:09 by Anonymous
Great talk, really does make the topic approachable and offered good resources at the end for going on past where the talk leaves off (something more talks would benefit from).
Jun 14, 2009, 00:27 by lifeforms
This talk was the most entertaining of all in my opinion. Well balanced yet very in-depth. If you've taken compiler courses, you get the immediate urge to create optimizers and new fun statements (a python-style multiple assignment sprang to mind). If the subject matter is new, there is a good discussion of the compiler's basics at the start and the discussion revolves around a well chosen simple example to demonstrate adding a new feature to the language.
Jun 15, 2009, 08:39 by mihahribar
Very technical and very informative. This kind of things are always tough to present to a crowd of mixed levels of knowledge about compilers, but Sebastian did a great job. Thank you for sharing your insight.
Jun 15, 2009, 10:52 by Anonymous
Very good one. Very nice to see stuff I only studied years ago applied to something I use every day ;)
Jun 13, 2009, 10:50 by Anonymous
Interesting talk! It was very nice to have an insight in these kind of things.