I’m removing the FatMM patches I made available a while back from my blog until I can re-visit this optimization.  I recently noticed that I wasn’t getting the original performance gains I measured with this optimization patch.  (For those not familiar, the FatMM patch is a patch against PHP that performs a simplified memory management model where we allocate a larger memory structure at start and don’t both with freeing memory until the request is completed.)

With the help a user, Ricardo Bartolomé Méndez, we recently verified that this is in most cases fixing regressions in other memory performance such as debug builds or Suhosin patches.  (An embarrassing mistake on my part to be sure, but I didn’t want to remove this until I could get confirmation refuting what reports I had received previously.  The lesson here is to make sure you make your measurments carefully, it’s easy to mis-configure when you have multiple builds lying around).  So I until I can revisit this technique, I don’t want anyone else spending time on something that may be misleading in the end.  If I can come up with a better improvement, be sure I’ll post it again, and if you’re currently using this patch please verify that it’s not just correcting a previous regression from other patches or configurations.

Shortly after my post about Go Girl! at Facebook, I noticed another group getting their Go Girl! on.  As you can see in the following screen shot, Go Girl! made a cameo appearance in the last episode of Glee.   And who better to lead the way of Go Girl! than Sue Sylvester.  Now we know the secret to the Chereos stamina, while maintaining their pristine appearance!

Playing chess with Lucas at all hands meetings, while Karel looks on... (maybe I should bring back my stripe)

Go Girl! (what really powers Facebook)

November 2nd, 2009 will be my last official day as an employee at Facebook, and the 23rd will be my last day in the office.  It has, without a doubt, been one of the most amazing work experiences I’ve ever had.   My first hours of work was attending our 5 million user party in 2005, what a great introduction to Facebook work ethic.    The first year or two was masochistic, 24×7 constant cycles of wake-up, write code, push code, fix code till 4am, fall asleep spooning laptop, repeat…  <advertisement>But Go Girl!, the Sugar Free Energy Drink, kept me going through it all!</advertisement>   I started working on APC out of necessity, mostly to keep the panicked “If we don’t do *something* in the next hour, the site will be down!” from happening on a daily basis.  It grew into a full-time job managing the PHP/Apache stack, something that’s been a real challenge and I’ve really enjoyed. Throughout my time here our growth rate has always been astounding, even today I’m amazed at our trajectory and I think a huge portion of it corresponds to the creative energy embodied in it’s employees.  But alas, I feel my time here has come to a close, it’s time for me to relax a bit, re-focus, and figure out what I want to do next. I’m looking forward to seeing Facebook continue it’s upward trajectory and accomplish great things, and eager to discover whatever might be next, but only after a little R&R…