In this chapter, we have learned how to install and configure a basic Blackfire.io setup in order to easily and automatically profile code when committing it to a repository. We have also explored how to install a TICK Stack in order to continuously monitor our code's performance after its deployment on a live production server. Thus, we have seen how to install and configure profiling and monitoring tools that help us easily optimize PHP code in a continuous integration (CI) and a continuous deployment (CD) environment.
In the next chapter, we will explore how better understanding PHP data structures and using simplified functions can help an application's global performance along its critical execution path. We will start by analyzing a project's critical path and, then, fine-tune certain of its data structures and functions.