PHP Vs. Ruby on Rails: Which One Should I Pursue?
October has finally kicked in, and yet another year is on the brink of becoming yesteryear. Maybe, it is the time when you have finally come to your senses and realize you shouldn’t let go this year without learning a web development technology. Now when it comes to web development, most people either choose PHP or Ruby on Rails.
The mindset is rational because these are the web development technologies that are in utmost demand. On top of this, both PHP and Ruby on Rails have good learning curves.
Although both are perfect technologies for beginners who are new to the code, learning a new technology is time-consuming. Hence, you cannot learn both at the same time. Therefore, we have a comparison between PHP and Ruby on Rails training and certification course to help you decide the best course for your needs. We will start with the basics of these two technologies and will further compare them on different factors.
The definition of PHP and Ruby on Rails
Right before we start talking about the PHP and Ruby on rails on the series level, it is crucial to comprehend these technologies’ basics. Once you develop the firm knowledge, it is time to move ahead with the comparison.
What is PHP?
PHP is the short term for the Hypertext Pre-processor, one of the most popular open-source scripting languages across the globe.
The PHP language allows beginners to create scripts that run on the web server and create dynamic page content. In layman’s words, PHP can create dynamic websites in real-time. For instance: you can use PHP to collect data, store user cookies and user access.
What is Ruby on Rails?
On the other hand, Ruby on Rails is the most popular open-source web application framework. Quite different from PHP, Ruby on Rails is a web development framework that is built on the programming language: Ruby. When combined with the Rails framework, developers can use Ruby on Rails to develop full-stack web applications.
How to compare between PHP and Ruby on Rails?
Now, when you comprehend the basics of these technologies, it is time to compare them to come up with the best technology you can learn this year. To make it far easier, we can compare the PHP and Ruby on Rails on 5 key factors:
Web development
Both of these technologies are curated by keeping scalable web development in mind. However, if compared separately:
PHP allows you to connect with websites and databases without any difficulty. After all, the key intent behind the language development was to bridge the gap between front-end and back-end development. But language is not known for delivering an excellent website without using external libraries.
Ruby on Rails, on the other hand, consists of a number of features that allow you to offer great user exuberance without having you depended on the external libraries.
Architecture
The PHP was written considering freedom in mind. Therefore, you will only encounter a few restrictions while using the language. The only drawback is the output of the program depends on the skills of the developer.
Ruby on Rails has successfully adapted Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. That means in order to use Ruby on Rails on its full potential, you need to incorporate a series of best practices into your code. This means you can rely less on your skills while working as Ruby on Rails already does a lot of heavy lifting.
Development process
When compared to the development speed, both PHP and Ruby on Rails are vastly different from each other.
The Ruby on Rails work on two main principles- first; don’t repeat yourself, second; convention over configuration. Both principles have back-end the Rails in becoming the technology that allows developers to write quality code without worrying about configuration.
PHP, on the other side, has a high degree of configuration. In addition, unlike Ruby, the PHP has only a few tools you can depend upon to speed up the configuration.
The community
Both PHP and Ruby on Rails have a strong community and actively participate in debates.
The PHP language has been around the corner since 1995, and as a result, there is no shortage of content online. You can almost find everything you want about PHP online, and the good news is there are plenty of projects that can help you as a beginner.
Compared to PHP, Ruby on Rails was quite new as it was launched in 2004, and while this means the framework does not have such a strong history, the popularity of Rails has resulted in the massive developers who followed and supported the framework.
Still, it is difficult to compare these two languages in terms of communities, as we are afraid it might spark debate.
Or maybe World War 3?
What we are trying to imply here is both of these are strong communities filled with professionals who once started their careers with Online training and certification courses.
How much time do you have?
What a silly question, right? But as unnecessary as it sounds, right before making any commitment to any development technology, you must spend some time evaluating how much time it takes to master the technology. This will help you understand which language or framework you can learn in your free time.
When it comes to PHP and Ruby on Rails, both of them come with a shallow curve. As a beginner, you should know that both PHP and Rails offer simple syntaxes, which means you need to master the basic rules to leverage them.
However, because Rails is the framework not a language, you first need to learn Ruby in order to use Rails. As a result, it may take you longer to master both Ruby and Rails, but it is definitely worth the effort.
The bottom line
PHP dominates a large percentage of websites on the internet and has been widely used by open-source software such as WordPress which indeed fuelled its popularity.
Rails, on the other hand, is still a new technology compared to PHP, but that doesn’t mean it is not popular. As you have already read about, sites ranging from GitHub to Shopify were built on the Ruby on Rails.
In the end, the decision to learn a new technology lies in your hand. As a suggestion, if you want to build modern-day applications then, go for Ruby on Rails, but if you are looking for something with a broad history then, PHP is your call. Moreover, which certification you choose, you can always visit ProICT Training to consult with professionals.
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