Python Vs PHP: What's the Difference?

Details: Last Updated: 03 August 2020

What is Python?

Python is a high level object-oriented, programming language. It has built-in data structures, combined with dynamic typing & binding which makes it an ideal choice for rapid application development. Python also offers support for modules and packages, which allows system modularity and code reuse.

It is one of the fastest programming languages as it requires very few lines of code. Its emphasis is on readability and simplicity, which make it a great choice for beginners.

In this tutorial, you will learn:

What is Python?
What is PHP?
Why Python?
Why PHP?
History of Python
History of PHP
Python vs. PHP
Features of Python
Feature of PHP

What is PHP?

PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor. It is a server-side scripting language. It is used to develop a dynamic website or web application. PHP can easily integrate with all major web servers on all major operating systems.

PHP is the widely-used, free, and efficient option to competitors such as Microsoft's ASP. Non-technical users can easily learn a few useful tricks to make their web pages easier to manage, and more useful.

KEY DIFFERENCE

Python is a high-level object-oriented programming language used for rapid application development whereas PHP stands for Hypertext pre-processor used to develop a dynamic website or web application.
Python is widely used in AI, data science, and scientific community whereas PHP is the language of choice for web development.
Python has a small number of frameworks whereas PHP has many frameworks.
Python offers very clear and concise syntax of codes whereas PHP has a wide range of naming conventions and syntax.
Key features of Python are Rapid development, Dynamic typing and beautiful code whereas Key features of PHP are Open source, Easy Deployment, Continual Improvements.

Why Python?

Here, are certain reasons why you should select Python:

Compared with the code of other language python code is easy to write and debug. Therefore, its source code is relatively easy to maintain.
Python is a portable language so it can run on a wide variety of Operating systems and platforms.
Python comes with many prebuilt libraries which makes your development task easily.
Python helps you to make complex programming simpler. As it internally deals with memory addresses, garbage collection.
Python provides an interactive shell which helps you to test the things before it's actual implementation.
Python offers database interfaces to all major commercial DBMS system.
Python supports GUI applications and has as a framework for Web. Example: tkmter, WXPython, Django.

Why PHP?

Here, are prime reasons why you should select PHP:

PHP runs on various platforms like Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, etc.
PHP is compatible with almost Apaches, IIS servers
PHP is easy to learn which runs efficiently on the server side
PHP is free to download from its official website www.php.net

History of Python

Python s first conceived in the late 1980s, but its implementation started only in December 1989
It was invented in the Netherlands, by Guido van Rossum.
Rossum published the first version of Python (0.9.0) in February 199
t was derived from ABC programming language which is a general-purpose programming language.
Nowadays Python is maintained by a core development team although Rossum still plays a vital role in directing it's progress

History of PHP

PHP was started as a Perl hack in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf
It was rewritten again in 1997 and released as PHP2.0 with a new passer engine by Zeev Suraski and Gutmans.
PHP 2 transformed the language into a Server-side scripting language.
PHP 3 (1998) added support for ODBC(Open Database Connectivity) multiple platform support and email protocols are added
PHP 4 version which was released in the year 2000 has become an independent component of the web server for added efficiency.
PHP 5 which was released in the year 2004 adds Zend Engine II with object-oriented programming, robust XML support.

Python vs. PHP

Parameter	Python	PHP
Frameworks	Python has a smaller number of frameworks	PHP users have access to mature frameworks.
Popularity	Widely used in AI, data science and scientific community	Language of choice for web development
Database Connectivity	Does not support database connectivity as broadly as PHP	It is possible to access more than 20 different databases.
Community Support	Currently growing at fast pace.	Wider community support.
Learning curve	Python is better in the long-term projects.	PHP has a very low learning curve, and it is straightforward to get started with.
Readability	Python uses indentation enforcements that are quite strict. This makes it more readable than PHP.	PHP language is highly documented and follows a classic approach
Type of language	General purpose programming language	Specialized for Web development programming language.
Syntax	A very clear and concise, syntax of codes	The built-in library has a wide range of naming conventions
A famous company using this technology	Uber, Pinterest, Mozilla	Hootsuite, Viber, Appcelerator
Git hub stars	30.4 K	30 K
Fork	8.23 K	8.04 K
TIOBE rating	4^th position	7^th position
Key Features	Rapid development, Dynamic typing and beautiful code.	Open source, Easy Deployment, Continual Improvements.
Best frameworks	Flask, Django, jam.py.	Slim, Laravel, Fast-free framework.
Salaries	The average salary for a professional Python Developer is $120,024 per year in the United States.	The avg salary for a PHP Developer is $86,017 per year in the United States.

Features of Python

Easy to learn, read and maintain
It can run on various hardware platforms & using the same interface.
You can include low-level modules to the Python interpreter.
Python offers an ideal structure and support for large programs.
Python offers support for automatic garbage collection.
It supports for an interactive mode of testing and debugging.
It offers high-level dynamic data types and also supports dynamic type checking.
Python language can be integrated with Java, C, and C++ programming code.

Features of PHP

Database Integration Supports many databases, such as Oracle, MySQL, etc.
It is easy to use, compare to another scripting language
It is faster than another scripting language, e.g., ASP and JSP
Open source means you don't need to pay for using PHP; you can freely download and use it
PHP has some predefined error reporting constants to generate an error notice or warning
PHP offers access logging by creating the summary of recent accesses of the user.

What is better?

Even after comparing both of these languages, selecting one is an undoubtedly difficult task because PHP and Python both are good on their way. Python is the gateway to machine learning codes. On the other side, PHP is used for server-side scripting and web development.