The benefit is that you can use it to transform PHP code into an abstract syntax tree [1]. This allows you to do some really cool things like static analysis, c

The benefit is that you can use it to transform PHP code into an abstract syntax tree [1]. This allows you to do some really cool things like static analysis, code transformation, preprocessing, etc. in a convenient way. The fact that it is written in PHP is nice because it allows you to use it in existing PHP projects in an environment you are already familiar with. I think the fact that it is written in PHP is less important than the fact that it can be used in PHP (e.g. it would be equally useful as a PHP extension written in C). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree