Some days ago there was a blog post regarding php exception performance in 5.4 and the numbers got reported all over the place. The actually numbers are secondary. The main point is: Don't trust "random" stuff on the Internet when thinking about improving your application performance. You always need to measure things for your self and take care doing so! I've initially trusted the benchmark myself and disgraced the whole post saying: "Well yes, exceptions are slower than if statements but nice that they got faster".

He includes some results with a bit more standardized testing - one run with both 5.3 and 5.4 using XDebug and another with it turned off for both. His results make sense, if you think about them:

So what we learn from that? Running stuff with debugging tools is slower than not doing that. That's why we don't use xDebug in production.

Anyone who has used PHP for a while knows that it has its ugly parts. Recently I've seen a whole swathe of PHP-bashing articles and that would fine if they were they are making a valid point, but some of it has just been - as I tweeted recently - "absolute drivel".

He directly refutes some of the points made in that article, points out a newer post from the same author (which misses some points as well) and finishes it off with a look at why he "still" uses PHP versus something like Closure or NodeJS for his development.

Despite known flaws and imperfections I continue to use PHP as my primary language because during all the time I spend worrying about which technology is the neatest, coolest or shiniest I could have built a new application to sell or finished another client site.

Be sure to check out the comments for some other thoughts about the language (and Phil's responses).