Unsure which technology to choose for backend web development? Learn the differences between PHP and NodeJS to make the right decision. https://bit.ly/3CPFfk3
2. Overview
2
When it comes to backend web development, two of the most
popular languages are PHP and NodeJS, but which one should
you use? Each language has its own unique set of features and
benefits that make it different from the other.
These programming tools are actually very different in terms of
features and capabilities. Let’s take a look at the main
differences between PHP and NodeJS so you can decide which
one will work better for your project!
3. East to Learn: PHP is relatively easy to learn, especially with the
resources available online. A good PHP tutorial can be found here.
More than just a Scripting Language: What makes PHP so powerful is
that it's not just a scripting language; it also has an object-oriented
programming layer. Object-oriented programming is becoming more
popular among other scripting languages as well, such as Ruby.
PHP is an open-source server-side scripting language that is commonly
used on the web. One of the benefits to using PHP is that you can
access databases through MySQL or PostgreSQL. You can also make
use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, etc. with it.
Pros of Using PHP for Web Development
What is PHP?
4. Extensive Libraries/Frameworks Available: Not only does PHP have
an extensive set of libraries/frameworks available for free, but you
can also find many different frameworks written by the community
and experts like this one here.
Cost Effective: PHP is probably one of the cheapest options out
there when it comes to developing dynamic websites. Not only that,
but if your site gets too big for shared hosting then you can easily
switch over to a VPS or dedicated server without having any
difficulty at all.
5. Highly Mature Community: There's no doubt about it- PHP has one
of the most mature communities out there when it comes to web
development languages (including Java). In fact, on Stack Overflow
alone there are over 750,000 posts related specifically to PHP! With
such an active community of users and developers around the world
it means that whatever problem you're dealing with somebody else
likely ran into before. It doesn't matter where in the world you go
either because there will always be someone who knows what
they're talking about.
Simplicity: The simplicity behind PHP is one of its best assets and
what keeps people coming back again and again. Compared to other
languages like JavaScript, Python, or Ruby, PHP is much easier to
learn due to its basic syntax which still provides a lot of flexibility
when needed.
6. Lack of Standardization: It is difficult to create a universal standard
for the use of PHP because it is such a diverse language.
It is Difficult to Identify Potential Errors: It can be hard to determine
what potential errors exist because the syntax is so complex.
There is a Lack of Compatibility with Mobile Devices: As more
people become mobile users, they expect to have access to web
applications on their phones and tablets. But these devices do not
offer an interface for the programming languages used in PHP which
prevents them from being compatible with apps that are written in
this language.
Cons of Using PHP for Web Development
7. It is Slow: The time it takes for pages to load can be slow due to its
high reliance on code rather than templates which reduces loading
times.
Inconsistent Support from Hosting Companies: Some hosting
companies provide support while others do not, making it frustrating
when you want one type of service but your provider doesn't offer
that option.
Not as Portable as Other Languages: There is no definitive way of
installing PHP across all operating systems like other languages
which means that you need different tools if you want to work on
different machines or operating systems.
8. What is Node. js ?
Node. js is a server-side platform that is based on JavaScript. It was
created by Ryan Dahl in 2009. The goal was to create an environment
for web development that is more efficient, lightweight, and real-time
than traditional options like Apache or IIS (or PHP/Python).
In the few years since its creation, it has gained popularity as a way to
get work done quickly. There are many benefits to using Node for web
development:
9. Event-driven programming paradigm: The event-driven
programming paradigm is a design pattern which can be used to
asynchronously handle multiple tasks in a single threaded
application. In Node, events occur when an I/O operation finishes or
an error occurs. Developers have to register callback functions with
the event and these functions will be executed whenever the event
occurs.
V8 Engine: The V8 JavaScript engine was developed by Google to
ensure that their Chrome browser remains fast regardless of how
many scripts are running in it. In 2011, Google released V8 as open
source. As a result, web developers can use it in their own
applications.
Pros of Using Node. js for Web Development
10. High performance: It has been observed that Node has been found
to be one of the fastest web frameworks available today. It allows
you to take full advantage of all CPUs on a machine since it runs on
both threads and in parallel where other frameworks only run on one
thread.
Asynchronous event handling: One thing that makes node so
efficient is its asynchronous nature, while this might sound
complicated at first, understanding this makes your life easier
because now you don't need to worry about blocking threads from
executing code until a certain task completes.
11. NPM registry: NPM registry contains every package you need for
your node project so you don't have to search through GitHub
looking for various packages yourself. You can even share your own
packages there too!
With Node's module system, modules are broken down into two
categories: core modules and third party modules. Core modules
make up part of the library whereas third party modules are those
that come from npm registries like Debian or Redis.
12. Not as widely adopted: JavaScript is the most common language on
the planet, but Node is not nearly as widespread.
Slow in rendering pages: JavaScript renders pages much faster than
Node does, so if speed matters to you, it's best to stick with
JavaScript.
Difficult debugging: Because Node was designed to run in a different
environment than the browser, it can be difficult to debug problems
with your code because the two environments don't share similar
tools or logic for finding errors.
Cons of Using Node. js for Web Development
13. More than one framework required: Node typically requires at least
one additional framework (such as Express) in order to build rich
client-side applications. As such, developers must understand how
both frameworks work together when building their application
which leads to higher developer time costs overall.
Fewer libraries available: There just aren't many libraries for Node
compared to what there are for JavaScript (which runs almost
everywhere). And since Node cannot execute any traditional
JavaScript outside of modules that return objects that support
callbacks, some tasks require much more complex coding
approaches than would be necessary with an all-JavaScript
approach.
14. Which is more Secure: PHP vs Node. js
In general, PHP is more secure than Node. js because of its runtime
environment and code structure. For example, PHP code executes in a
sandboxed environment with limited access to system resources such
as memory and CPU time.
This means that even if an attacker can find a security hole, they won't
be able to exploit it because they have very limited access to system
resources. Additionally, PHP does not rely on JavaScript for execution
which improves security because JavaScript is less secure than other
languages like C++ and C#.
15. Which is more Scalable: PHP vs Node. js ?
INode. js is more scalable than PHP because it is asynchronous and
event-driven, while PHP is synchronous and blocking. This means that if
there are multiple requests sent to a server, PHP will process one at a
time, while Node. js will handle all of them simultaneously.
The best example I can give you is a chat app which has tons of users
online at once trying to chat with each other. In this case, Node. js would
be able to handle all of their messages in real time, whereas if you were
using PHP it would have to wait until one message was finished
processing before moving on to the next one, hence why chat apps
usually use Node JS instead of PHP .
16. Which is high performing: PHP vs Node. js ?
Node. js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine.
It is designed to build scalable, high-performance web applications
using a non-blocking event-driven model.
Asynchronous programming is used extensively in both its APIs and its
run loop. Node can be deployed on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Unix
operating systems. There are over half a million modules available in its
NPM repository with more being added every day.
17. Which is easy to learn: PHP vs Node. js?
Honestly, it depends on your goals and how much time you want to
spend learning. PHP is easier to learn than Node. js, but PHP has a
steeper learning curve than Node. js does.
Some people say that if you are going to use one of these languages, go
with Node. js because of its event-driven programming model and its
non-blocking IO. Others say that they would choose PHP because they
find it easier to pick up.
18. Which is cost effective: PHP vs Node. js?
This question is a lot trickier to answer than you might think. There are
many factors that contribute to how much your website will cost
including number of visitors, complexity of functionality, and size of
team.
For example, if you're building a small website with not very many
visitors and a small team, PHP is likely your best bet since it's cheaper
and easier to maintain. On the other hand, if you're building a large site
with lots of traffic like in an ecommerce store, then Node. js is likely a
better option since it handles scaling better and has an easier time
handling high volumes of simultaneous connections to the server.
19. If you're working on an existing system that already uses PHP, it might
be more time-efficient to continue using it.
If you have to integrate with other systems that already use PHP, it
might make sense to continue using it.
If you want to quickly prototype a new idea and are comfortable
coding in PHP.
You need a backend system where security is paramount.
The server needs to handle heavy traffic loads and large numbers of
concurrent connections from users.
Your application needs to run on multiple platforms such as Windows,
Mac OS X, Android, iOS, etc.
You should hire PHP developers in India when:
You should use hire Node. js developers in India when:
When should you use PHP vs Node. js?
20. Though both PHP and NodeJS are popular choices in back-end web
development, they each have their own pros and cons. Deciding which to
use can be difficult, but it's worth considering your company's needs
before making a decision.
If you're looking for an easy language that has a wide range of libraries,
then PHP is probably best for you. But if you need something more
powerful that can handle larger projects, go with NodeJS. It's also
important to note that different languages suit different types of
projects. So what is best for one project might not work for another.
Conclusion :