Node.js and PHP are popular technologies used in website development today. PHP is a server-side scripting language and Node.js is an environment for running JavaScript code outside of a web browser. The decision to switch from PHP to Node.js didn't happen overnight. It took years to form and was preceded by extensive preparation. Why did we decide on such a change?
We started in PHP. Like many other IT companies. We have developed our own CMS system, which is built on the PHP MVC framework. The development took almost 10 years and the largest system that runs on this CMS has around 12 thousand pages and almost 100 content types (user profile, article, document, video, survey and many others). It contains complex administration with multi-level access. Today, this system is still active, but only in the maintenance stage. We decided to build new systems on Node.js. Here are some reasons why we chose Node.js over PHP:
- Performance: Node.js is built on Google's V8 engine, which is very fast and efficient in processing JavaScript. PHP has performance limits and can be slower in some cases.
- Scalability: Node.js uses asynchronous I/O, which allows efficient processing of large numbers of requests simultaneously. This makes it an ideal choice for high-traffic web applications. PHP can have problems scaling with growing number of users.
- Uniform language: Node.js uses JavaScript as its main language, just like web browsers. This allows us to write both frontend and backend code in one language, resulting in lower costs and greater flexibility.
- Wide community: Node.js has a large and active developer community, which means it's easy to find help, solve problems, and find ready-made modules and libraries that can be used to quickly develop applications. PHP also has a large community, but it can be more challenging to find quality and reliable modules and libraries.
- Real-time applications: Node.js is an ideal choice for real-time applications such as chat applications, online games and data streaming. This is due to its ability to perform asynchronous communication between the client and the server, thus enabling fast data updates.
PHP is a relatively easy language to learn and use and is supported by many web servers. These are the main reasons why it is one of the most used technologies in website development today. However, we decided to develop hypermodern web applications instead of websites and to bring modern technologies closer to everyone who wants a dynamic application with always up-to-date content instead of a static website.
