Lesson 35 of 50By Ravikiran A S
Out of the many web development languages around, about 79.8% of websites use PHP, while Python is gaining tremendous momentum in the web development world. Both languages, although used for web development, serve different purposes.
In this PHP vs. Python tutorial, you will explore their differences and similarities and learn what makes them unique in their respective ways.
PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor is a server-side, open-source, scripting language. It find most use in dynamic web development and when embedded into HTML codes.
PHP comprises 79.8% of all web applications, which nearly translates to 20 million websites and 2 million web servers.
To have a market share as big as PHP, a programming language should have many features that make development simpler and efficient.
Some of the key features of PHP are listed below:
Python is an interpreted, high-level and object-oriented programming language generally used for Web Development, AI, Machine Learning, and System Scripting.
It is amongst one of the fastest programming languages requiring very few lines of code. It is also amongst the top choices of developers for a programming language in 2021.
Python has a vast range of applications ranging from web development to AI and data science and hence has a ton of features to support the variety of its use.
Some of the important features of Python are listed below:
Learning Curve
Easy-to-learn language. Suited for beginner
Better in long term projects
Applications
Web development
Web development, AI, Machine learning, System Scripting
Framework
It has a large number of frameworks. E.g., Zend, Laravel
Lower Number of frameworks in comparison. E.g., Django, Flask
Performance
PHP 7th gen is faster
Less fast in comparison
Community
A very large and old community
Very popular but smaller community in comparison
Database Support
Supports more than 20 different databases
Less database support than PHP
Maintenance
Difficult to maintain large programs
Easy to maintain
Syntax
Conventional Syntax with different naming conventions
Easy to understand syntax. Very close to the English language.
Companies
Facebook, Yahoo, WordPress
Instagram, Google, Pinterest
The syntax of a language defines its readability and ease of writing, and in terms of syntax, Python is much simpler and more readable as it resembles a lot with the English language, while PHP has a wide range of conventions which makes it less easy to understand.
Now, look at the syntax of both of these programming languages:
Since Python doesn’t use braces to differentiate parts of code, it has indentation rules to indicate blocks of code and increase readability.
if(7<10)
print ("Hello World!")
Here, a simple ‘if’ condition checks if 7<10 and if true, it prints the code under the ‘if’ condition’s block. And to print a value, it uses a simple “print” and the value follows it.
Also, while defining variables, there’s no need to define the variable type.
x = 10
y = "Simplilearn"
z = 70.8
PHP scripts are usually embedded into HTML codes. A PHP script starts with ‘<?php’ and ends with ‘?>’ while the code comes in between.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<?php
echo "Welcome to Simplilearn!";
?>
</body>
</html>
In PHP, ‘echo’ is used to print values.
Although both languages support web development, they are used at different times as per requirements. There’s no one language better than the other.
Have a look at which language is best suited and when amongst the two:
This concludes the “PHP vs Python” tutorial. Here, you learned about the two languages, their features, key differences, and their respective syntax. Later, you learned about when the two respective languages are used based on requirements.
You can refer to this link here for a video tutorial on PHP vs. Python.
Are you gearing up for a career change into PHP development? Simplilearn’s PHP course would be an excellent first step for you. The PHP certification is an applied learning program which helps you understand the fundamental and advanced concepts, and the latest improvements in PHP - making your PHP learning journey easy and effective.
If you have any queries regarding this PHP VS Python article, share them easily with us in the comments section of this article web page. We’ll have our subject matter experts look into them and share their responses with you soon.
Happy Learning!
Ravikiran A S works with Simplilearn as a Research Analyst. He an enthusiastic geek always in the hunt to learn the latest technologies. He is proficient with Java Programming Language, Big Data, and powerful Big Data Frameworks like Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark.
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