I didn't realize Rogue Wave still existed, since I haven't heard of anything they've done since their C++ STL implementation that was once popular. Looks like they've been on a bit of an acquisition spree with about one per year since 2009.
This probably won't have a huge effect on PHP since it's much less Zend-dominated than it once was.
I developed a poorly-performing NoSQL-like DB library using their BTree, serializer/deserializer, file-interface, and collection library components. Records had a primary index (for storage order), multiple indices, arbitrary binary data payload, arbitrary-sized values in index "columns". It worked reliably but there were file fragmentation issues and delays during "vacuum" operations. This was in 1995 / 1996. I was junior and didn't know enough about system-level concerns, having come from a more computer-graphics / algorithms / math background. The company didn't want to shell out for expensive canned solutions. Our product sold well enough, but I learned a lesson.
Me too, at around the same time. Mine was an object storage backend for desktop applications. It had MFC-style object graph serialisation and, IIRC, simple indexing. It also had similar performance issues to the ones you mention. I recall enjoying working on it.
However primitive it looks now, Tools.h++ was ahead of its time back then. Just having a decent string class (with copy on write) was nice to have.
I know of some companies in the financial domain that still use their array based implementations. I thought they were on their way out but they seem to be rather doing well ?
Are there any other products other then the C++ STL implementation + their array library they are known for ?
This probably won't have a huge effect on PHP since it's much less Zend-dominated than it once was.