When people are stuck with the choice of web technologies, it’s worth learning about them beforehand.
And today, if you are about to choose between two leaders in the web development market and don’t know whether you need to hire node js developer or PHP developer, this article is here to help you.
Do you know that an epic battle is going on in developers’ mindshare about Node.js vs. PHP? Without wasting time, let’s talk about these server-side Darling.
Quick Summary: Node.js and PHP
Node.Js and PHP are highly recommended for web backend technologies. While PHP has been considered best for server-side scripting, Node.js perfectly meets the latest website apps development requirements.
So what are the respective features of Node.js and PHP? What are their pros and cons?
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Language description of Node.Js Vs. PHP
Node.js and PHP Overview
Node.js is known as a JavaScript-based runtime environment. It contains everything that is needed to execute a program written in JS.
Node.js appeared when the developers of Javascript decided to expand it from something possible to just run within the program to something you can keep running on the device as independent software.
Before Node.js Javascript was primarily used to make websites more interactive. And such runtime environments like Node.Js and various frameworks gave JavaScript all needed to do other things like Python or any other scripting language can do.
PHP is an open-source server-side scripting language. Developed in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. And since then, they are not going back.
A survey by W3Tech shows that just about 79% of the websites in their data are developed using PHP. It is so because most CMS platforms that are used to build cost-effective websites for companies are built with PHP. These are Drupal, WordPress, Woocommerce, Joomla, and many others.
So, you know what PHP and Node.js are and ready to dig into their comparison. Let’s compare these two by the following parameters: coding, performance, and resources.
#1 Coding – how many lines of code you code?: Node.Js Vs PHP
Node.Js: When you develop using Node.JS you write more code lines compared to when you create something similar with PHP. The key difference between these two is that you don’t need to use different languages when you create with Node.JS since this framework is based on JavaScript, so you develop everything you need in JavaScript.
As a result, Node.js development has more code, but less work on various integrations since everything is written in one language, the JS.
PHP: PHP is here for a long time and developed significantly. We can do more using PHP, yet, it has some features that make it less usable. When coding PHP, indeed, you need less coding, yet, when you are going to implement your newly PHP developed software you may face some difficulties.
For example, you should have knowledge of generators and operators well to make your software work with MySQL, Apache, Linux, HTTP server, and even with the version of PHP installed on the server.
#2 The Client-Side Creation – the ease of integration: Node.Js Vs PHP
Node.Js: The primary advantage of Node.js is that it allows you to simply import the logic you’ve built for your back-end to the server. So, that it is easier for the developers to allocate all they need.
Moreover, when you are creating client-side software with Node.JS you can move some server load to the client’s device so your server is almost never overloaded with the request. It is a known dynamic feature of the framework that makes it extremely popular for mobile development.
PHP: PHP was created for handling web pages that run dynamically. Years ago when PHP had not been widely used coders created web pages using HTML and CSS only. These were text pages. So, after PHP was introduced to the public the era of modern www started. Yet, even today PHP is not a perfect technology.
The primary advantage is that PHP is fully dependent on the HTML code of a static page. As a result, when no change is needed for each site page, the page is easily loaded by the client device.
Yet, all the load goes to the backend and server you use. A good example are eCommerce platforms built with PHP – they are really slow compared to social media that are dynamic by nature and usually built using JavaScript technologies.
#3 Performance, speed, and resources: Node.Js Vs PHP
Node.js: Node.js has an asynchronous nature. It uses JavaScript V8 Engine to run at a good speed, as a result, the startup time is lesser compared with PHP. Moreover, Node.js is an event-driven environment, which means it doesn’t block requests or jobs to end existing ones.
The order-independent execution used by Node.Js is usually noted as ‘concurrency’. Concurrent execution of a module implies that many modules are executed at a given time but not at the same time, i.e. simultaneously.
PHP: PHP, developed in an earlier time frame which shows this in the way in which it performs on-page load. When you load a PHP page the process is blocked until the page has been fully calculated. As a result the app or website loads slowly and there is no concurrency.
This shows that Node.js remains a more speedy alternative.
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#4 Frameworks and developer tools: Node.Js Vs PHP
Node.js: There are a lot of Node.js frameworks and extensions available today. Express, Sails, Derby, and Meteor give all the tools and libraries one may need while developing web pages or apps. Moreover, the environment has a lot of libraries that appear almost every day to cover all the needs one may have.
Yet, we still see that more web pages and apps are still built with PHP. And the primary reason for one to not use all the benefits Node.JS offers is that PHP is here for much longer.
PHP: PHP has been here since 1995 and offers an extensive and broad frameworks library. Almost any niche market has its set of developed for their needs frameworks built with PHP. A lot of web development companies are focused on PHP and provide the development service using CodeIgniter, Phalcon, Laravel, Zend, Yii, and CakePHP.
Additionally, a lot of widely used CMSes are built using PHP and to integrate your template, design, or feature you need to know PHP.
Unfortunately, stacking software against one another doesn’t solve all of the problems. PHP may not be as fast or event-driven as Node.js but also has its benefits.
The choice of the right technology stack for your project depends on your requirements, and you need to choose wisely. Nevertheless, if you are planning something relatively new, it’s a great idea to consider Node.JS as young and more fast technology.
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