Pure PHP/HTML views VS template engines views

Question

I would like to know which approach is faster, using the pure PHP in the HTML files or using a template engines like Smarty,Twig, ... What I would particularly like to know

Answer 1

I will take up this again as things have changed significantly and there are some pieces of evidence missing from the earlier answer.

Without getting deep into why frameworks use template engines over PHP which most do. For some reason there is a constant effort to "fix" PHP with another abstraction layer. Always with claims of simplicity without loss of versatility or performance.

Regardless, the use of PHP is still the fastest and most versatile way of templating. PHP in it's earliest incarnations looked much like a templating language. But let's take a look at the advancements in PHP and place them side by side with the after layers.

Twig and some others claim caching something which was always an addon in earlier versions of PHP. Caching is now a default part of PHP5.5+ (Opcache) and so using PHP as a template language will give more performance enhancements.

Twig and others claim simple syntax for designers. In comparing the syntax of a template engine you'll see that the logic is similar with the only benefit of using a template system like Twig being another layer of security separation between the designer and the underlying system code.

Two very popular CMS Wordpress and Drupal used PHP as their template engines. So the old argument of using a template engine to secure and simplify the use of PHP while designing a website is not really valid in today's web. While Drupal 8 is moving on to Twig it mostly because twig is part of Symfony Framework ( returning to why do frameworks use template engines). Wordpress on the other hand is still using PHP. As Wordpress is growing by leaps and bounds with web designers using PHP to help this happen. Drupals Community has also been split in part by decisions to use Twig and Symfony.

So it would seem that using PHP is the better choice in terms of performance but also the preference for themers and designers going forward. At least all evidence leads to this conclusion.

That being said here's my baseless opinion. I think that using anything other than PHP as template engine in today's web covers some inherent weaknesses in the underlying framework or web application architecture. That weakness being its complexities and complications that cannot be explained easily at the designer or themer level.

If you are writing a lightweight application that has to be small. Keep it small and performing optimally by using PHP and leave the other engines to "enterprise" level groups and projects