When it comes to building web applications, there are countless technologies available to developers. However, two of the most popular options are Ruby on Rails and PHP. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework built on top of the Ruby programming language, while PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for web development.
Both technologies have their own strengths and weaknesses, and choosing between them can be a difficult decision. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at the features, benefits, and drawbacks of each technology to help you make an informed decision about which one is right for your project.
Ruby on Rails vs PHP - Quick Comparison
Technology
Ruby on Rails
PHP
Developed By
David Heinemeier Hansson
Rasmus Lerdorf
Release Year
2004
1995
Language
Ruby
PHP
Technology Type
Web Framework
Server-side scripting language
Data Binding
Dynamic
No support for built-in data binding
Learning Curve
Low
Moderate
Best suited for
Web Development
Web Development (for creating dynamic web pages and web applications)
Ruby on Rails (Rails) is a widely used web development framework. It's an open-source framework written in Ruby that simplifies the development process by providing guidelines and best practices for developers. It's designed to save developers time by prioritising convention over configuration. This means that developers don't have to waste time setting up and configuring their applications, but instead can focus on creating the unique features of their application.
Ruby on Rails has become popular due to its emphasis on simplifying the work of developers and improving their productivity. It offers several features that help speed up the development process, such as automated code generation and scaffolding. These capabilities allow developers to rapidly build an initial version of their application that performs basic functions without writing all the necessary code themselves and many companies look to hire Ruby on Rails developers.
Furthermore, Ruby on Rails has a vibrant community of developers who actively contribute to the framework, and help their fellow developers.
What is PHP?
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a popular server-side scripting language used for Web Development. Originally created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, PHP has since evolved into a robust and powerful programming language. PHP files have extension ".php" and it enables developers to create, open, read, write, delete and close files on the server.
PHP has the ability to run on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X. Additionally, PHP is designed to be compatible with a wide range of servers commonly used in web development, such as Apache and IIS, allowing developers to use PHP on the server of their choice.
One of the main advantages of PHP is that it can be embedded directly into HTML code, allowing developers to create dynamic web pages that can interact with databases and other server-side technologies. PHP can be used for a wide range of applications, from simple scripts to complex web applications.
Some of the key features of PHP include its simplicity, ease of use, and flexibility. It is an open-source language, which means that developers have access to a large community of users and contributors who can provide support and help with development and many firms also look to hire PHP developers.
Key Features
Ruby on Rails - Key Features
Ruby on Rails comes with a lot of important features that enable developers to build applications with ease. Some of the key features are mentioned here:
MVC architecture: Ruby on Rails uses Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture model that breaks an application into three parts: data, user interface, and control logic. This approach helps to organize the code and make it easier to maintain. The "model" component represents the data, the "view" component is the user interface, and the "controller" component manages the control logic.
Convention over configuration: Ruby on Rails prefers conventions and established ways of doing things allowing developers to customize everything from scratch. Doing so speeds up the development process and simplifies it, so developers don't have to spend as much time on manual configuration. This approach is known as "convention over configuration".
ActiveRecord: Ruby on Rails has a library called ActiveRecord, which makes managing databases easier by serving as an interface between the application and the database. This means developers can interact with data using an object-oriented approach without writing complex SQL queries.
Scaffolding: Ruby on Rails has a feature called scaffolding that can create a simple application with all the basic parts like views, controllers, and models. This feature can save developers a lot of time by providing an initial point for the application.
Gems: Ruby on Rails has a large number of plugins called Gems that provide additional functionality to the framework. Functionalities like authorisation, authentication, testing and many more!
RESTful routing: Ruby on Rails uses RESTful routing principles to define how to access different parts of an application. This helps developers create consistent and organized APIs, making it easier for them to work with and manage different resources.
PHP - Key Features
Open source: PHP is an open-source programming language. It can be modified and used by developers for creating a wide range of web applications without any cost.
Cross-platform compatibility: PHP is platform-independent, which means it can run on various platforms such as Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS, making it easy for developers to create applications on any platform.
Flexibility: PHP is a versatile language and can be used for creating different types of web applications such as e-commerce websites, content management systems, and social networking sites etc.
Easy to learn: PHP has a simple syntax, which makes it easy for beginners to learn and understand. The language is also well-documented, making it easy to find solutions to any question.
Fast processing: PHP executes code quickly, making it suitable for high-traffic websites. Its processing speed is due to the fact that PHP code is interpreted rather than compiled, which makes it faster to execute.
Database support: PHP supports many popular databases such as MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, making it easy to store and manage data on websites.
Community support: PHP has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development, provide support, and share knowledge.
Security: PHP features several security features, including protection against SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
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Performance Comparison
Ruby on Rails Performance
Ruby on Rails has received criticism in the past for its performance, but a lot of improvements have been made to the framework in recent years. While Rails prioritizes developer productivity, this can sometimes come at the expense of performance. However, each new version release of Rails has shown improvements in performance, and the framework can now handle even high-traffic websites and applications.
One key factor in achieving optimal performance for a Rails application is to follow efficient coding practices. Writing inefficient code can lead to slower response times and increased server load. Rails provide developers with tools and libraries such as caching and background processing to help write optimized code.
Previously, Ruby on Rails faced challenges in handling multiple requests at the same time, which impacted its performance. However, the introduction of multi-threaded servers, such as Puma, has improved the performance. With this improvement, Rails is now able to handle a larger number of requests.
Ruby on Rails has shown great performance in the development of real-time web applications. This is mainly due to key features like ActionCable, which enables real-time communication between the server and the client. These tools make it possible to develop interactive web applications that are responsive and provide smooth user experiences.
PHP Performance
Here are some of the factors that contribute to the overall performance of PHP:
Speed: PHP executes code line by line rather than compiling the entire code at once. This makes it fast to execute, especially for small and medium-sized applications.
Caching: PHP comes with caching mechanisms that help to speed up code processing.
Server-side execution: PHP is a server-side language and therefore, the code executes on the server before being sent to the client's browser. This approach reduces the load on the client's browser, resulting in better application performance.
Scalability: PHP is highly scalable and can handle large volumes of requests. Proper configuration and optimization can enable PHP to handle high-traffic websites and web applications.
Third-party tools: PHP has many third-party tools, such as PHP-FIG, that provide standards for PHP web development. These tools improve the quality and performance of PHP code.
Smoothness: PHP has a simple and intuitive syntax that makes code easy to read and write. This reduces errors and simplifies debugging, leading to a smoother development process.
Popularity over the years
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails has grown in popularity since its initial release in 2004. It is an open-source web development framework with over 50K stars on GitHub.
Overall, Rails continues to be a popular and reliable option for web development. According to the Stack Overflow 2022 survey, more than 5 percent of the respondents use Ruby on Rails for their projects. The framework is used by over a million websites across the world.
Overall, Rails continues to be a popular and reliable option for web development.
PHP
Since its creation in 1995, PHP has been a popular programming language for Web Development. Initially, it competed with other web programming languages such as Perl and CGI scripts. However, PHP gained popularity due to its simplicity and effectiveness in creating dynamic web pages.
In the mid-2000s to late 2000s, PHP continued to grow in popularity as open-source web platforms such as WordPress and Drupal were built on PHP. Many developers also started using PHP frameworks like Zend and CakePHP for web application development.
The release of PHP 7 in 2015 introduced significant performance improvements, increasing the language's popularity among developers. It’s estimated that 78% of websites use PHP for server-side scripting. PHP continues to be a popular language for Web Development, with many popular web platforms and applications such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Wordpress and Slack built on PHP.
Overall, PHP has remained a popular language for web development due to its versatility, ease of use, large community of developers, and extensive documentation. Its popularity is expected to continue due to its ability to handle high-traffic websites and web applications and its ongoing evolution with new versions and updates.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of Ruby on Rails
Rapid development: Ruby on Rails provides a set of conventions and best practices that help developers create web applications quickly and efficiently. This allows them to focus on the unique features of their applications.
Large and active community: Ruby on Rails has a large and active community of developers who contribute, collaborate and help each other. This makes it easier for developers to get assistance when they need it.
Object-Oriented Programming: Ruby on Rails is based on the object-oriented Ruby programming language, which enables developers to write well-organized and maintainable code.
Built-in testing framework: Ruby on Rails comes with a built-in testing framework that makes it easy for developers to write and run tests, ensuring that their application is free of bugs and errors.
Disadvantages of Ruby on Rails
Performance: In the past, Ruby on Rails had been criticized for its performance due to the huge emphasis on developer productivity rather than performance. However, the framework has been continuously optimized with each new version, and significant improvements have been made in the past years to address these performance concerns.
Memory usage: Ruby on Rails applications may require more memory, which can result in higher expenses for servers.
Scaling: Ruby on Rails can handle high-traffic websites and applications, but scaling can be challenging and may require additional infrastructure.
Advantages of PHP
Cost-effective: PHP is open-source and free to use, which makes it a cost-effective option for web development. This is especially important for small businesses or startups with limited budgets.
High performance: PHP is designed to be fast and efficient, which means that it can handle high-traffic websites and web applications with ease. It also has built-in caching mechanisms that can further improve performance.
Large ecosystem of tools and frameworks: PHP has a large ecosystem of tools and frameworks, such as Laravel, CodeIgniter, and Symfony, which can help developers to build scalable and robust web applications quickly and easily.
Integration with other technologies: PHP can be easily integrated with other technologies and platforms, such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and various APIs. This makes it easy to build web applications that leverage the strengths of different technologies and platforms.
Large talent pool: Because PHP has been around for a long time and is widely used, there is a large pool of talented PHP developers available to hire. This can make it easier to find skilled developers to work on your web projects.
Easy maintenance: PHP code is easy to maintain and update, which can save time and money in the long run.
Easy deployment: PHP applications can be easily deployed on a wide range of web servers, including Apache, Nginx, and Microsoft IIS, among others.
Support for multiple protocols: PHP has built-in support for multiple protocols such as HTTP, POP3, SMTP, and FTP, which makes it easy to build web applications that communicate with other systems and services.
Disadvantages of PHP
Inconsistent naming conventions: PHP has varying naming conventions for its built-in functions and classes. This can make it more challenging for developers to read and understand code.
Security vulnerabilities: Due to its popularity and open-source nature, PHP has been subject to numerous security vulnerabilities including SQL injection attacks, File inclusion vulnerabilities, Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks and Remote code execution vulnerabilities.
Limited multithreading support: PHP has limited support for multithreading, which can make it difficult to build highly concurrent applications. This can be a disadvantage for certain types of applications, such as real-time chat systems or streaming video services.
Lack of type checking: PHP is a dynamically typed language, which means that type checking does not occur at compile time. This can lead to errors and bugs that are not caught until runtime.
Your engineers should not be hiring. They should be coding.
Help your team focus on what they were hired for. Flexiple will manage your entire hiring process and scale your tech team.
Use Cases
Ruby on Rails - Use Cases
Ruby on Rails comes with a lot of important features that enable developers to build applications with ease. Some of the key features are mentioned here:
MVC architecture: Ruby on Rails uses Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture model that breaks an application into three parts: data, user interface, and control logic. This approach helps to organize the code and make it easier to maintain. The "model" component represents the data, the "view" component is the user interface, and the "controller" component manages the control logic.
Convention over configuration: Ruby on Rails prefers conventions and established ways of doing things allowing developers to customize everything from scratch. Doing so speeds up the development process and simplifies it, so developers don't have to spend as much time on manual configuration. This approach is known as "convention over configuration".
ActiveRecord: Ruby on Rails has a library called ActiveRecord, which makes managing databases easier by serving as an interface between the application and the database. This means developers can interact with data using an object-oriented approach without writing complex SQL queries.
Scaffolding: Ruby on Rails has a feature called scaffolding that can create a simple application with all the basic parts like views, controllers, and models. This feature can save developers a lot of time by providing an initial point for the application.
Gems: Ruby on Rails has a large number of plugins called Gems that provide additional functionality to the framework. Functionalities like authorisation, authentication, testing and many more!
RESTful routing: Ruby on Rails uses RESTful routing principles to define how to access different parts of an application. This helps developers create consistent and organized APIs, making it easier for them to work with and manage different resources.
PHP - Use Cases
Open source: PHP is an open-source programming language. It can be modified and used by developers for creating a wide range of web applications without any cost.
Cross-platform compatibility: PHP is platform-independent, which means it can run on various platforms such as Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS, making it easy for developers to create applications on any platform.
Flexibility: PHP is a versatile language and can be used for creating different types of web applications such as e-commerce websites, content management systems, and social networking sites etc.
Easy to learn: PHP has a simple syntax, which makes it easy for beginners to learn and understand. The language is also well-documented, making it easy to find solutions to any question.
Fast processing: PHP executes code quickly, making it suitable for high-traffic websites. Its processing speed is due to the fact that PHP code is interpreted rather than compiled, which makes it faster to execute.
Database support: PHP supports many popular databases such as MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, making it easy to store and manage data on websites.
Community support: PHP has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development, provide support, and share knowledge.
Security: PHP features several security features, including protection against SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
Which is better - Ruby on Rails or PHP
Both Ruby on Rails and PHP have their own unique features and strengths. Ruby on Rails is known for its elegant syntax, powerful libraries, and rapid development capabilities, while PHP is widely used for its flexibility, scalability, and compatibility with various platforms.
While the decision to choose between these two technologies ultimately depends on your specific needs and preferences, it's worth noting that they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many developers use both Ruby on Rails and PHP together to create robust and flexible web applications.
Whether you choose to use one technology or both, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and best practices in web development to ensure that your applications are fast, secure, and user-friendly.
