Python is one of the most popular programming languages on the web today. Its popularity for high-performance programs is increasing on the web, but PHP is more famous for its simplicity, speed and low costs. Now there are new tools that can help you get a better balance between those 2 languages.
This article is about comparing PHP with Python to find out how one excels over the other. The focus is on how easy and fast it is to get up to speed and code a project with both languages in the short term, not how easy they are to implement a project from the beginning.
PHP vs Python: What they are
Before we start comparing the features of these languages, it is important to know what we mean by PHP and Python.
If you are looking for a language that will power a website or web application, PHP is the one to go for. It is a simple, lightweight and very powerful language for developing web applications. PHP is also widely used for backend and backend tools.
In comparison, Python is a multi-paradigm programming language. A web developer will use Python to build web applications, but it has a huge focus on scientific applications, machine learning and other high-performance applications.
While PHP is a simple, popular and powerful language, Python is much more advanced. The syntax of Python is way more complicated than PHP. If you don’t have any experience with Python, you will need much more time to become productive with it.
If you want to take your skills to the next level, Python is the language to go for. Also, with Python, you can choose a framework for PHP that allows you to write your code in Python and access the same API of your PHP web application, which allows you to reuse code and libraries more efficiently.
PHP is more popular than Python, but not as easy
These languages are very similar and offer similar features. They are easy to use and work like a charm for a beginner. As a programmer, you can decide to learn PHP and Python on your own. There is no limit to learning them. Learning one language is not much difficult, and it’s not as complicated as it is to learn several programming languages.
PHP is better for website building
If you want to build websites, PHP is definitely the best option. When you develop a website, it is often a good idea to use a framework that has a simple set of features and a high level of performance. There are many free and open source PHP frameworks available, but we will talk about PHP frameworks later on.
The reason why Python is not a good choice for building websites is because you will need a lot of extra things, like a server to host the website. Although there are many free services that offer hosting for your websites, they are usually very slow and unreliable.
You need to find a good web host if you plan to build a website in PHP. The same applies to Python web hosting. It is much easier to host a website using PHP. You can even use open source PHP frameworks if you want, such as Laravel. Python has frameworks too, for example, Flask and Django.
The most popular website framework for PHP is WordPress. WordPress is an open source project that makes creating a website with it even easier. The website framework is very reliable, and there are many good tutorials online. WordPress is free, and you can easily install it using a plugin or a hosted service.
Python is better for creating web services
A web service is an application that works like a website, but on the backend, it can be programmed. You can do the same things with a web service that you can do with a website.
If you want to build a web service in PHP, it will be easier and simpler to do so. This is because of the following reasons:
- PHP has much better support than Python.
- PHP is easier to learn.
- It is simpler to use.
If you want to build a website, PHP is definitely a better choice than Python.
Python is an excellent programming language, and it has a very strong developer community. However, there are some features that the Python programming language is lacking, especially in comparison with PHP.
PHP programming requires you to write a lot more code. You have to take advantage of some additional features like sessions, session cookies, sessions management, security features, and so on. When it comes to hosting, the PHP servers are much easier to configure than the Python servers.
PHP is far more popular than Python, and that makes it a much easier choice for web programmers and websites.
Conclusion
If you are looking to create a website, you can use either PHP or Python. Both have very good programming languages that will allow you to build a good website. If you are looking to build a web service, PHP is more suited than Python.