Compare parsing and compilation speed to LightnCandy

PHP Handlebars:
- JIT on:  Compiled 1000 times in 3.081 s  |  3.081 ms/compile  |  21.9 KB code
- JIT off: Compiled 1000 times in 6.122 s  |  6.122 ms/compile  |  21.9 KB code

LightnCandy:
- JIT on:  Compiled 1000 times in 5.135 s  |  5.135 ms/compile  |  34.6 KB code
- JIT off: Compiled 1000 times in 6.444 s  |  6.444 ms/compile  |  34.6 KB code

Parses and compiles Handlebars templates up to 40% faster than LightnCandy. Runtime code is over 35% smaller.

Author: theodorejb

composer.json

@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "php": ">=8.2",
-        "devtheorem/php-handlebars-parser": "^1.1.0"
+        "devtheorem/php-handlebars-parser": "^1.1.0",
+        "zordius/lightncandy": "^1.2"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer": "^3.94",

composer.lock

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Compiler benchmark script. Default iterations: 1000.
+ *
+ * Usage: php -d opcache.enable_cli=1 -d opcache.jit=tracing tests/benchmark.php
+ */
+
+use DevTheorem\Handlebars\{Handlebars, Options};
+
+require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
+
+$iterations = (int) ($argv[1] ?? 1000);
+$filename = __DIR__ . "/largeTemplate.hbs";
+
+// A large, complex template exercising as many syntax features as possible.
+$template = file_get_contents($filename);
+if ($template === false) {
+    exit("Failed to open $filename");
+}
+
+$options = new Options(
+    helpers: [
+        't' => function (string $a) {
+            return $a;
+        },
+        'formatDate' => function (mixed $value, string $format) {
+            return date($format, strtotime($value));
+        },
+        'formatCurrency' => function (mixed $value, string $format) {
+            return $format . ' ' . number_format($value, 2);
+        },
+        'replace' => function (string $subject, string $search, string $replace) {
+            return str_replace($search, $replace, $subject);
+        },
+        'eq' => function (mixed $a, mixed $b) {
+            if ($a === null || $b === null) {
+                // in JS, null is not equal to blank string or false or zero
+                return $a === $b;
+            }
+
+            return $a == $b;
+        },
+        'and' => fn(mixed $a, mixed $b) => $a && $b,
+        'not' => fn(mixed $a) => !$a,
+        'gt' => fn(mixed $a, mixed $b) => $a > $b,
+    ],
+);
+
+// Warm up: give the JIT a chance to compile hot paths before we measure.
+for ($i = 0; $i < 50; $i++) {
+    Handlebars::precompile($template, $options);
+}
+
+$start = hrtime(true);
+
+for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
+    Handlebars::precompile($template, $options);
+}
+
+$elapsed = (hrtime(true) - $start) / 1e9;
+$perParse = $elapsed / $iterations * 1000;
+$codeBytes = strlen(Handlebars::precompile($template, $options));
+
+printf(
+    "Compiled %d times in %.3f s  |  %.3f ms/compile  |  %.1f KB code\n",
+    $iterations,
+    $elapsed,
+    $perParse,
+    $codeBytes / 1024,
+);