To many developers, JavaScript is undeniably the ‘king of front-end development’ and PHP is the number one choice for server-side script. Keeping that in mind, let us see the major technical similarities and differences between Node.js, Javascript’s trump card on the client-side with a PHP back-end. First, the similarities:

Interpreted:

Both Javascript and PHP are termed ‘scripts’ or interpreted languages. For Javascript the runtime environment is browser and for PHP it is server. While there are a lot of details regarding interpreted vs. compiled debate, programmers will have no second thoughts in conceding that that scripts are lot easier to use and lead to greater programmer productivity. Both Javascript and PHP belong to the same category and ideally suitable for both beginners as well as the experienced coders.

Ubiquitous:

Most websites these days are either developed using PHP and JavaScript. As a combinational logic, coders use JavaScript and PHP on the front-end and backend respectively. There has been never a dearth of vast codebases of frameworks, libraries and community support for both JavaScript and PHP together like a package solution. If you have any doubts or questions in mind, it is as if you’ve already got the solution for it.

Now for the differences,

Runtime Environments:

JavaScript is all client-side scripting, while PHP is more of a server-side language. While you can embed both directly into HTML, they require a runtime environment in order to run. JavaScript’s interpreter is embedded into all key web browsers as it’s such a critical component of the web experience. PHP for long has been no sweat to install and use on the server-end; PHP code is compiled and executed by the Zend engine. Node.js changed the way how the game is played as it allowed Javascript to overcome on the server-side, but not just a decade back its use was only confined to front-end development.

Simplicity:

PHP concept-wise is not as complex as Node.js. All you need is a .php file with some code written between tags for setting up a server. Simply type in the URL into the browser, and you’re ready to go. The statement you write in between two tags can be as simple as , and that’s it. On the background, a web server such as MySQL with PHP installed can interpret the file and the browser will display your web page on it. While it’s not that difficult to set up a Node.js server, it usually calls for more lines of code, and better understanding how functions such as callback and closures work.

Concurrency:

PHP, similar to most server-side languages, deploys multi-threaded, blocking I/O to perform numerous tasks concurrently. JavaScript is one of its kinds as it employs a few tricks up its sleeve (event loop + Node clustering) to deliver an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model employing a single thread (also main thread) of execution. PHP can also perform asynchronous processing in its own way, mainly through the Facebook’s HHVM project

JSON:

JavaScript Object Notation or JSON is feather light data format that is syntactically analogous to JavaScript object definitions. This obviously puts JavaScript-based technologies and Node.js in the driver’s seat when handling JSON. Whilst PHP can function with JSON, it is somwhat situational.