I have taken extensive PHP applications and re-coded them as a C/C++ module to the PHP language. It worked out successfully. A simple loop in PHP that just does some math and prints our a value, can be 1,000 times faster in C; if a PHP object is created and deleted in the loop, and you do the same in C++, you can get 100,000 times faster. Your speedup will vary according to what it does, of course -- if it is mostly waiting for a database, you won't see much speedup at all.
Contact me if you are looking for someone to do that kind of work.
If I were starting a new web app from scratch today, I would code it in C using Thomas Boutelle's cgic library. Of course, it seems one rarely starts anything from scratch these days.
Well, we're constantly looking for talented folks at Côdeazur Brasil (http://codeazur.com.br), even for remote work. We actually have an open position for a Rails senior developer at the time but we haven't managed to find anyone yet, or haven't looked hard enough.
Please contact me at jonas@codeazur.com.br with IM info, I'd love to introduce you to some of the stuff we want to do (so maybe you can help).
Contact me if you are looking for someone to do that kind of work.
If I were starting a new web app from scratch today, I would code it in C using Thomas Boutelle's cgic library. Of course, it seems one rarely starts anything from scratch these days.