Table of contents
1.
Introduction 
2.
What is PHP?
3.
Reasons why you should use PHP for your project:
4.
Which projects work best in PHP?
5.
Frameworks of PHP
6.
What is NodeJs?
7.
Reasons why you should use NodeJS for your projects: 
8.
Which projects best work in NodeJs?
9.
Frameworks of NodeJS
10.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Oct 28, 2024
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PHP vs Node.Js

Author Jainish Patel
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Introduction 

Let’s understand how PHP vs NodeJS started its battle. In the olden times, the partnership between JavaScript and PHP was simple. While JavaScript handled the client-side scripting and details on the browser, PHP managed all the server-side tasks between port 80 and MySQL. They worked in harmony to support many crucial parts of the internet. Between WordPress, Facebook and many other websites, people can hardly go a minute on the web without running into PHP.

What is PHP?

PHP, expanded as Hypertext Preprocessor, was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. Although it is a server-side scripting language, it can also be used as a general scripting language. It is processed by an interpreter that is installed on web servers such as Apache. PHP code can also be embedded into HTML or HTML5 markup, and this flexibility contributed to its immense popularity.

Reasons why you should use PHP for your project:

  • Integrate code and content: Since PHP is embedded in HTML, you do not need separate files to write HTML and PHP code. You can build the logic as well as prepare the content of your web page right in one file.
  • The world (wide web) is using PHP, what are you using: A large fraction of the websites on the internet are built with PHP as their server-side language. Most of them are built on older versions of PHP but patches are being made worldwide to provide updates.
  • Save your browser from overloading: PHP does not require any heavy packages to be loaded along with the loading of the web page.
  • SQL’s best friend: PHP was built to be integrated and work closely with SQL.
  • Survival of the fittest: Owing to the advancement of other server-side applications, PHP is building itself bigger and better than ever to stay afloat in the competition.

Which projects work best in PHP?

  • Projects which need to have a continuous inflow of data from the database
    Applications which need forms and hence flow of data from the web application to the database. It can modify, create and delete elements while working with SQL.
  • Data Encryption
    PHP can be used for encrypting your data and creating applications which require authentication and based on the result of the authentication, some pages are displayed to the user and some pages are not.
  • WordPress Development: The plugins and themes available on WordPress have PHP backing them up. In order to create custom themes and plugins, one can utilise PHP effectively. WordPress is growing to provide the users with an option of creating fast search engine optimised websites, and if the developer is well-versed with PHP, it adds glitter to gold and offers the website a more customised experience.

Frameworks of PHP

  • Laravel
  • CodeIgniter
  • Symfony
  • CakePHP
  • Yii
  • Zend Framework
  • Phalcon

What is NodeJs?

NodeJS is a cross-platform, runtime environment that executes JavaScript code outside a web browser. It was created in 2009 and is used for building fast and scalable applications. It uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model. Although the percentage of websites that are built with NodeJS is comparatively low, it’s climbing the popularity ladder among developers.

Reasons why you should use NodeJS for your projects: 

  • Asynchronous: All aspects of the NodeJS library perform asynchronously which means, that after making one call, there is no delay while waiting for a response, rather the application moves to another call and one event is not affected by the previous calls. The previous calls are handled by the Events Mechanism of NodeJS.
  • Fast: NodeJS is built on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine; hence it offers swift, productive and effective code.
  • No buffers: NodeJs applications do not buffer rather they output data in chunks.
  • Non-blocking I/O: This feature of NodeJS prevents applications from crashing.
  • Sharing is Caring: NodeJS library codes can be shared among the developers and reused.
  • SEO Friendly: To make one’s site more visible, it is essential that the website is search engine optimised. NodeJS is built to make the website gather more engagement and hence adds to its optimisation.

 

Which projects best work in NodeJs?

  • Real-Time Communication Web Applications: NodeJS can be a good option for backend development while building communication/social media applications as comments, likes and other features can be incorporated easily. Popular frameworks such as Express.JS and Feather.JS with Socket.IO integrity is used to build social media applications.
  • Games: NodeJS along with ExpressJS and Socket.IO can be used to make console-like gaming applications. The game code which requires some calculations is handled on the server-side by NodeJS. ExpressJS assists NodeJS in fulfilling the integrity of front end with backend and Socket.IO helps in communication between the web browser and the server.
  • IoT Devices: NodeJS’s package manager NPM has multiple packages for IoT support. Since IoT applications work on MQTT protocols, NodeJS is the best choice because it is built for handling MQTT protocols with ease and delivering real-time data which is the base of an IoT application. Since the server-side programming of IoT devices does not need resources of CPU and RAM, NodeJS is definitely a great choice.
  • Data Streaming Applications: NodeJS can effectively handle real-time data and set up proxy servers with ease which lets data to be streamed from multiple locations and/or in real-time. Use of NodeJS by Netflix can be a very good real-life example that supports this fact.
  • JSON APIs Based Applications: If you wish to build REST APIs, NodeJS combined with ExpressJS and JSON is a fast, easy and least code solution.
  • Single Paged Web Applications: NodeJS combined with ReactJS is a really powerful tool for building single-page web applications. The logic of the application is being handled on the client-side and calls to the server are only made when the DOM needs to be changed dynamically.

Frameworks of NodeJS

  • Express.js
  • Hapi.js
  • Socket.io
  • Koa.js
  • Sails.js
  • LoopBack.js

Conclusion

We’ve walked you through some of the many differences PHP vs NodeJS offer, and now it is up to your detective skills to research more about the two technologies and start utilising it. Every technology has distinct advantages and pitfalls. In many places, PHP might have seemed like a convenient choice, but NodeJS has shown promising trends for the future generation of websites. In the end, choosing between them depends on your requirements and needs.

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