Web development is a diversified field and appears to be changing everyday because every hour the trend changes, new technologies are found due to which Companies often get confused about which technology is good for a certain project.
Earlier there were main 2 technologies used for front-end and back-end applications i.e. JavaScript for front-end and PHP for backend. Combination of these 2 always resulted in a dynamic result.
However when Node.JS made its entry in the market everything changed. Node.JS came with new features and advantages that allowed programmers to use JavaScript as a backend application. This distracted the programmers from PHP which was seen as a traditional technology with the rise of Node.JS
Although both these technologies are considered as a mature and powerful application, if you are a business owner and are looking for backend development you are bound to get confused. But don’t worry you will get your answers after reading my blog which will help you in choosing the right technology for backend web development so read this blog till the end.
What is Node.JS?
Node.JS is an open-source, server-side cross-platform, back-end JavaScript (V8 Engine) runtime environment developed by Ryan Dahl in 2009 that executes JavaScript code outside a web browser. Asynchronous Coding with JavaScript has become possible on the server and client sides ever since the Node’s release. A rich library full of various JavaScript Modules is provided by Node.JS to simplify the development of web applications, and it has become beneficial to use Node.JS for non-blocking and event-driven servers because of its single-threaded nature.
The features of node.js are
Event driven
Very fast
No buffering
Single threaded but highly scalable
Image source: esparkinfo.com
What is PHP?
PHP is a server-side scripting language used to control dynamic content, session tracking, databases, and construct an E-Commerce website embedded in HTML. Several famous databases, consisting of MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server, are integrated with PHP.
Features of PHP
Simple to use
Platform independent
Flexibility
Open-source
image source: esparkinfo.com
Now the real question rises which one is better?
Context Switches: User has to continuously switch between different languages and syntax in PHP, while in Node.JS there is no such problem as written in JavaScript. We all are aware that JavaScript is a better coding language.
Modules: The moduling system used in PHP is PEAR, a framework used for reusable components and Composer, a tool that allows declaring libraries and installing them for users. While Node.JS uses NPM (Node Package Manager), a complete package management system that is easy to use
Frameworks: Node.JS uses frameworks like Express, Meteor, and Derby, which are very popular, and many new frameworks have also arrived in Node.JS like koa.js, Hapi, total.js, sails.js, Etc. In comparison, PHP uses a framework like Laravel, CakePHP, Codelgniter.
Databases: Node.JS uses MongoDB, CouchDB, and Neo4j, which are new and easy to use, while PHP uses traditional databases like MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Etc.
Web Servers: Nodejs was developed for the network applications modules like HTTP, DNS, file system, Etc., helping set customized web servers. While for versions before 5.4, LAMP and XAMPP(an acronym for Cross-platform, Apache, MariaDB, PHP) PHP comes with a built-in development server used after setup.
WHEN SHOULD YOU USE NODE.JS OR PHP?
Node.JS and PHP both are Backend Programming language Technologies let’s check out when to use both:
If your company is involved in the below mentioned projects then you should hire Node.JS development company:
Dynamic single page applications (SPAs)
Front-end technologies such as jQuery, Ember.js, AngularJS, Backbone.js, ReactJS
Software stacks like the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, Node.js)
Netflix, LinkedIn, PayPal, and many more well known companies use Node.JS.
If your Company is involved in the below mentioned projects then you should hire PHP development company:
Servers such as Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, Postgresql, SQL, MariaDB etc.
Content management systems like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc.
Software stacks including LAMP stack Etc.
Facebook, Wikipedia, WordPress and many more well known Companies use PHP.
Conclusion:
Both technologies have different requirements and are best at performing in specific conditions. Node.JS is perfect for RTA, while PHP is useful for creating customizable blogs. With the help of Node.JS, you can quickly implement web services as it is highly flexible and easy to use. However, both these technologies have their pros and cons, and the question of which technology is better remains dependent on the type of project requirement. So it is necessary to pick the right language for your project, keeping all the needs in mind.
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