php-nodejs

In this ever-changing technology landscape, as a developer, we do come across the all-new changes every now and then. This is something recent which I wish to detail.

Is PHP shortly to disappear and developers have a far better alternative to PHP like Perl, Ruby on Rails, Django, Java and a number of the foremost widespread platforms used. But nothing is as approachable as Node.js. Now, it depends on the developers as to what they opt for developing their application.

Without evaluation, we cannot derive the best and so right here we will try and compare 2 languages, i.e. PHP and Node.js viewing the question from totally different angles.

PHP

In Web programming, Personal Home Page (PHP) OR recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor was introduced in 1994, Apache in 1995, Javascript in 1995, Nginx in 2002 that is processed by an interpreter and put in as a module within the web servers, together Nginx or Apache. Markup Language will mingle with PHP code, which is not essential, however, used for creating some useful code with ease. Additional options like object-oriented programming model, namespaces, package management, and exceptions.

PHP is an interpreted language, in contrast to C++ or Java that need the ASCII text file compilation and It had a practical nature, that is less complicated to find out that the object-oriented programming. On environment basis PHP for command line development and for the desktop.

NodeJS

In 2009, Node.js was developed and uses the already well-established JavaScript language and created a new development platform on top of Google’s V8 JavaScript engine which was developed to power client-side code within the Google Chrome web browser. Generally, this platform is used for handling web requests and responses because it comes with inbuilt libraries. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and economical. On environment basis, NodeJS can be used in desktop, terminal, browser, server and embedded systems.

Getting Started

How can you build a “Hello World” web page? In PHP:

<?php echo 'Hello World!'; ?>

One can simply place the code in any file that interpreted by the PHP engine, generally, one with a .php extension. You simply must enter the Universal Resource Locator, which maps to that file in your browser and you are done. The code can solely accessible through a web server with PHP installed.

There are Operating Systems delivering server software like Apache on Macintosh and Linux, or IIS on Windows, however, they need to be enabled and configured. A pre-built set-up like XAMPP or a virtual OS image is employed that is less complicated to access.

Comparing it, we find NodeJS a breeze to install. Here, you have 2 options, i.e. either transfer the installer or use a package manager to make our website at hello.js:

console.log('Hello World');
Help and Support

One would not accomplish the target without some development facility from the official documentation and resources like forums, courses, and StackOverflow. PHP is absolutely on this front with a beautiful manual which offers a highly supportive guide. Whereas, NodeJS developers can solely get less facility. However, it has quality documentation and is largely due to the philosophy of keeping modules minimal and performing only a small set of tasks.

Integration

We all generally understand that development of technologies is restricted if they would incorporate with drivers and databases. In this aspect, PHP is powerful and its extensions system permits direct communication with a set of obscure APIs. Moreover, NodeJS is catching quick, however, users got to realize mature integration factors for less-popular technologies.

Hosting and Deployment

Deploying the shiny new app to a live web server is easier in PHP. This language is significantly easier to sandbox and it disables risky extensions. NodeJS is server-side apps that require a real/virtual/cloud or specialist server atmosphere with root SSH access to run. You will notice Node.js hosting less complicated.

What about the future?

It does not matter which server-side language you are using. You have to get ensured that it wholly work if the project is abandoned. There are many of us (developers) who continued to use PHP but the usage has probably plateaued. Being the fast-growing language, NodeJS delivers a modern development approach that supports revolutionary HTML5 options like web sockets and server-sent events and uses the similar syntax as client-side development.

Thus, these are some difference between PHP and NodeJS. Most of the developers find PHP a better language. But we need to check PHP7 vs NodeJS so wait for next blog which is for developer level as experts (or) latest trend readers which is a continuation of this blog as a beginner’s level.