Hello Jason,

JS> I have a couple general questions about Ruby.

JS> 1.  How does it compare to PHP in server load tests and is there a
JS> drastic speed change when loading a page?

If the page is lightweight and does just af few simple string
manipulations or a database query then PHP will be faster.

JS> We have an application right now that is written in PHP it probably gets
JS> around 10 hits per minute except between 8:00 and 9:00 AM.  We use this
JS> application to manage users authentication against a chat support
JS> application.  Right now PHP is working fine but a couple of our
JS> developers have decided to try out Ruby and see what they think of it.
JS> I am wondering if this will make a noticeable difference in speed to the
JS> users?

There are hundert things on which this will depend. How will you call
the ruby script ? Via CGI or Fast-CGI ? Please post more information
before you can expect better answers.

JS> 2.  I have noticed that Ruby puts out updates fairly often,  how secure
JS> is Ruby and how difficult is it to apply a security patch or update
JS> compared to PHP?  What is the best way to stay informed of security
JS> exploits and to find patches?  Mailing lists, Forums, Homepage?

There was an update christmas 2003 (for 1.8.1) and christmas 2004 (for
1.8.2). Thats not fairly often. If you are able to get PHP compiled to
apply a patch then i'm sure you can type "./configure ; make ; sudo
make install" or "cd win32 && configure.bat && nmake". But i don't
know if there are so many patches available, in fact i don't remember
even one but i'm only using the official releases and don't look for each
minor CVS patch.


-- 
 Best regards,                        emailto: scholz at scriptolutions dot com
 Lothar Scholz                        http://www.ruby-ide.com
 CTO Scriptolutions                   Ruby, PHP, Python IDE 's