In this article, we will discuss in detail the two most popular programming languages used in website development and data analytics, Python and PHP. And after discussing their history, features, advantages, and disadvantages, we will compare them to show which one is better for you.
If you are a beginner in website development, Python is much easier to use than PHP. PHP can be a little bit tough because of some coding complexity. However, both are high-level programming languages, but PHP is one of the best for website development, and Python is considered best for data science and data analysis.
If you are interested in coding, then Python is a good start. After that, you can learn other programming languages easily because then you will have a fundamental knowledge of coding. PHP is a scripting language that is completely free to use. It also supports all the main browsers that we use while working on the system.
Python
Python is a multi-purpose, object-oriented, and high-level programming language. It was first released in 1991 by Guido van Rossum. For beginners in the field of web development, Python is a good choice because of its easy syntax and less complexity of language. It is mainly used for web development, software development, mathematics, data science, and system scripting.
You can connect Python to database systems. Python is the best choice to ease your work if you are working on complex mathematics. The most recent version of Python is Python 3. Python can be easily written in an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) such as Netbeans or Eclipse. Python programs can be debugged easily, and if there is any bug found in the program, it will never cause a segmentation fault. The debugger of Python is also written in the Python programming language in itself. The productivity that a Python program provides is very high. That is the main reason for programmers to love Python.
History of Python
Python is a widely-used general-purpose, high-level programming language. It was designed in 1991 by Guido van Rossum at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands. Python is a successor to the ABC programming language. Python Software Foundation developed it. Implementation of Python began in December 1989. There is an interesting fact about the name of Python. Guido van Rossum was a big fan of a popular BBC TV show – ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Guido wanted a unique and short name for his newly invented language; that was the reason he named it Python.
The main reason for developing Python is to increase code readability. The syntax of Python is very easy. Programmers can easily show their concepts in fewer lines. When Python was developed, Guido van Rossum took some syntax and features of the ABC language and included it in Python. When Python was created, there were some issues in it, but Guido easily removed those issues and created a good scripting language by removing all its flaws.
When we compare Python with Java, C++, and C languages, there are very few codes used in Python to express the concepts. The developers’ productivity automatically increased because of its syntax simplicity and code readability features. When Python was released, it had all features like classes with inheritance, exception handling, functions, and core data types.
Benefits of Using Python
There are many reasons behind Python’s popularity. We are discussing some of them here.
1. Easy to Learn and Supportive
Python is an easy language, and it is its unique quality. Python is the best choice for beginners who want to make a career in website development. The Code Readability feature of Python is excellent. Anyone can understand the syntax without any complexity. Programmers can express their concepts in fewer lines of coding.
2. Extensive Support Libraries
Many standard libraries are available in Python, which makes your work easy. String operations, web services tools, and Internet protocols are all included in these libraries. The length of the code has already been reduced because all the complex programming tasks have also been included in these libraries.
3. Third-Party Modules
To make Python capable of interacting with other languages, third-party modules are added to it. These modules are under Python Package Index (PyPI).
4. Availability of User-Friendly Data Structures
Many built-in and dictionary data structures are available in Python. Programmers can easily use them because of their user-friendly quality.
5. Open Source Quality
Python is developed under an open-source license; that’s why it is free to use and distribute. It can also be used for commercial purposes.
6. Speed and Productivity
Python has its own testing framework and strong integration features, which enhances the programs’ speed and productivity.
Features of Python
Python is a high-level, free open source, and dynamic programming language. Python supports both object-oriented and procedural programming. Here are some features that can give you an easy understanding of this language.
1. Easy to Code
The main feature of Python, which makes it different from other programming languages, is that it is easy to code. Anybody can learn Python basics in a few days. It is a very user-friendly language and developer-friendly also.
2. Object-Oriented
Python is an object-oriented language. By object-oriented, we mean that Python supports all the concepts like classes, objects, encapsulation, etc., which are present in object-oriented languages.
3. High-level Language
Python is a high-level language. When we write a program in Python, we don’t need to worry about the system’s architecture and memory management issues.
4. Portable Language
Python is a portable language. If we write a program in Python for Windows and if we want to run the same program in Linux, Unix, or any other platform, we can easily do it because of the portability feature of Python.
5. Interpreted Language
Python is an interpreted language. Just like other languages i.e. C, C++, etc., Python code is also executed line by line. There is no need to compile the code, so it makes it easy to debug the code.
Disadvantages of Python
Each programming language has its own advantages and disadvantages, so Python is also not an exception in this case. Here are some disadvantages of Python.
1. Speed
Python code is executed with the help of an interpreter instead of a compiler. The interpreter executes the code line by line, and it takes time. It affects the speed of the program.
2. Runtime Errors
Python language is dynamically typed, so the program written in Python requires more testing, and most of the errors are only shown at run time which is a major drawback of this language.
3. Simplicity
Simplicity is the quality of this language, but it sometimes turns into a disadvantage. Many programmers who do programming in Python find it unnecessary to go to a higher complex language like Java because they find it difficult to adjust to a complex code.
4. Memory Consumption
Python is not a good choice if you are doing a memory-intensive task because Python memory consumption is very high.
PHP
PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is a widely-used open-source general-purpose programming language. It can easily be embedded into HTML and is mainly used for web development. It is a server-side language. For making dynamic and interactive websites, PHP is a good choice.
It is a scripting language, and its scripts are executed on the server. It is free to download and use. PHP code is executed on the server, and the result page is shown as plain HTML to the browser. You can include text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP code in PHP files. PHP can collect form data and add, delete, or modify data in your database.
With the help of PHP, you can create dynamic page content. It can run on various platforms and is compatible with almost all servers. It also supports a wide range of databases. It is easy to learn and easy to use.
History of PHP
PHP was developed by Rasmus Lerdorf, a Danish-Canadian programmer, in 1994. Rasmus Lerdorf wrote several Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs in C Language to maintain his personal homepage. After that, he extended these programs to work with web forms and databases. Rasmus called this PHP/FI (Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter).
Then PHP/FI turned into Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools) when Lerdorf added some features to handle bug reporting and improve code. This was the first official use of the word PHP in 1995. He also included in it some features like form handling and the ability to embed into HTML. The syntax was very simple and limited.
PHP grew organically. Basically, it was not a programming language when it was developed, but time by time, it converts into a programming language with the addition of new features. In 1997, Israel’s Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski made some changes and tried to use PHP to run an eCommerce site. That was called a big change in the history of PHP because, after that, a new version came that was called PHP 3.0.
The features that we see in today’s PHP are very similar to that version. From this version, the name of the PHP tools changed and was called PHP-Hypertext Preprocessor. After that, many other versions came like PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 6, PHP 7, and PHP 8.
Benefits of Using PHP
PHP is a server-side scripting language that is used to develop dynamic and interactive websites. Here are some benefits of PHP, which make it unique from other languages.
1. Simple and Easy
PHP code is easy to learn and simple. Programmers find it more familiar to work in this language because of its clear and simple syntax.
2. Open Source and Free
PHP is a free and open-source language. It can be downloaded and run on any operating system like Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.
3. Faster
When we compare PHP with other programming languages in terms of speed, PHP is much faster because of its faster loading time in spite of the slow Internet.
4. Flexible
PHP is a flexible language. You can make any changes in the code at any time. You don’t need to write fresh codes always because you can change existing code without any difficulty.
5. Gives More Control to Programmers
PHP gives more control to developers. Developers can add HTML tags or mix them without any complexity of code. They need not to worry about placing the code in the right place or in any specific order.
6. Powerful Library Support
PHP has a vast set of prewritten codes that programmers can easily use, such as Monolog, Guzzle, Assert, Symfony, etc.
Features of PHP
PHP is a server-side programming language that holds a set of unique features within it. Here are some of them.
1. Loosely Typed Language
You can use the variables in PHP without declaring its data types. You can also change the name of the variable dynamically.
2. Simple and Familiar
PHP is simple, familiar, and easy to learn the language. People who have very normal programming knowledge can also use it without any difficulty.
3. Open Source Language
PHP is an open-source language which means it is completely free to use. Users can download it for free and use it for their work. It leads to very low costs in software development.
4. Platform Compatibility
PHP is a portable language, and you can run PHP programs on any platform. This unique feature saves a user’s time, money, and energy.
5. Maintenance
In today’s web development process, the maintenance of code is very important. With the MVC (Model View Controller) framework included in PHP, you can easily maintain your program code.
6. Object-oriented Features
All the features that are available in an object-oriented language are included in PHP, like classes, objects, data encapsulation, and inheritance. This results in an increased speed of language.
Disadvantages of PHP
There are some disadvantages of PHP, and a programmer must have to be aware of them. Here is the list.
1. Security
PHP is not a secure language because of its open-source feature. Session hijacking and SQL injections are common security threats.
2. Poor Handling of Errors
PHP has no good debugging tools resulting in poor error handling and maintenance of the application.
3. Poor Framework
The framework of PHP is not appreciated when we compare it with other languages. It gives complicated solutions and executes the same code again and again without any requirement.
4. Poor Performance
If we want to use multiple features of PHP at the same time, it doesn’t support it and also leads to poor performance.
| Parameters | Python | PHP |
| 1st Release | 1991 | 1995 |
| Purpose | Python is an object-oriented scripting language. | PHP is a server side scripting language. |
| Framework | Python has less number of
Frameworks. Some are DJango, Flask, Bottle, CherryPy, etc. |
PHP has more frameworks. Some are Laravel, Slim, Codelgniter, etc |
| Syntax | Syntax of Python is simple and easy. | Syntax of PHP is a bit more complex than Python. |
| Language | It is a general purpose programming language. | It is a web development programming language. |
| Maintenance | It is easy to maintain | It is a bit difficult to maintain as compared with Python. |
| Popularity | After 2016, Python’s popularity is increasing rapidly. | PHP is losing its popularity. |
| Security | More secure than PHP | Less secure. |
| Functional Features | Functional Programming is available. | Functional Programming is not available. |
| Readability | Readability of Python is good. | PHP is less readable than Python. |
| Popular Field | Machine Learning, Data Science, AI | Mostly it is used in web development. |
| Flexibility | Python is much more flexible than PHP. | PHP is less Flexible. |
| Database Support | Lesser support | Higher support |
| Debugging | Faster | Slower |
Which one to Choose from Python and PHP?
Python and PHP are both the most popular programming languages in the field of web development. It is a very important task for a programmer to choose the best programming language for his project. When we compare Python and PHP, it isn’t easy to choose between them. No doubt most of the websites are developed in PHP, but the popularity of Python can never be denied.
If you are building websites by using the Django framework, then Python is the best choice. In data analysis programs or work in the field of robotics and data science, you can choose Python for a better result because Python is mainly used in these types of programs.
The syntax of Python is very easy to debug. Its source code is also very easy to maintain. It also has a vast set of pre-built libraries, so it makes web development easy. It is a portable language so that you can run Python programs on different operating systems.
If you want to develop a server-side program, then PHP is the best choice because PHP is the most popular server-side language; if you want to make less investment in your project, then you can choose PHP because it is a free and open-source language. Web applications, websites, Blog development, all you can do easily with the use of PHP.
Conclusion
So after discussing both of these popular programming languages, we can only say that both are unique in their respective fields. It only depends on your need whether to choose Python or PHP.
If you want to develop a website, then PHP is the best option, but if you are doing some data analyzing work or some complex mathematical program, then Python is the best choice. In terms of use and productivity, Python is better than PHP. In terms of security also, Python is a better choice than PHP. But when we talk about database support, then there is no competition to PHP. With the help of PHP, you can easily maintain a large amount of data. Updation and insertion of new data are also very easy in PHP.
We hope this article helps you in better understanding Python and PHP. Now it’s up to you to decide which language can be more useful for your programming work.
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