XmlHttpRequest vs cURL

Question

I was wondering if anyone has done any testing on the speed differences of cURL and XHR (in regards to the time it takes to complete a request, or series of requests).

Specifically I'm wondering because I would like to use XHR to go to php script, and use cURL from there to grab a resource. The php page will ensure ensuring the data is in the right format, and alter it if it isn't. I would like to avoid doing this on the javascript end because it's my understanding that if the users computer is slow it could take noticeably longer.

If it makes a difference, all data will be retrieved locally.

Answer 1

There is no speed difference between the two. You're comparing an HTTP request to an... HTTP request. For our purposes they both do the exact same thing, only one does it in JavaScript and one in PHP. Having a chain will take twice as long (probably more) since you're making a request to your server, and then your server is making a request to another server.

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to just get the resource with JavaScript and scrap the PHP median. I don't see any problem with doing it that way. (Unless your data is on another domain, then it gets trickier, but it's still doable.)

Answer 2

If I understand the question correctly, the difference will be that XmlHttpRequest would be on the client side (javascript), and cURL would be on the server side (PHP)

This would impact performance one way or the other, depending on where the resource is (you say local), and how many concurrent requests you'll get.