One of the most discussed and debated questions among developers, aspiring students and organizations. Now, to be fair, every programming language has its own pros and cons. Some may be trending in the global market for a specific function while some which are not trending are still being used but in another specific function. Basically, it depends on what’s the user needs or how comfortable they are with a specific language.
In this blog post, we aim to clear the above questions so that you have clarity as to decide what to learn, or learn how to differentiate languages based on your choice of career growth in the future. The detailed comparison given below is based on various parameters, stats and data.
Total Share in the Tech Market (Globally)
One of the main parameters while choosing your programming language is the overall usage stats and global market share. It gives you an idea of how well the language is used and how big is the developer community. The picture below shows you the most widely used Server-Side Programming languages.
Purpose of Creation
When Rasmus Lerdof developed PHP, Yukihiro Matsumoto Ruby on Rails and Guido Van Rossum decided on creating Python, they had different purposes which they hoped their languages would be used for. PHP’s main purpose is for building dynamic websites and web applications.
Ruby-on-rails was developed to make programming less tedious and intricate, while making it more interesting and adaptable with a new approach to learning development.
As for Python, it was developed keeping in mind the end result, i.e. productivity. Developers have had a bad experience when it comes to reading and comparing lines of code while finding/resolving bugs. Python aimed to dissolve this issue by making it’s syntax compact and having an easy way to learn and compare lines of code.
So, if you are interested in Dynamic Websites, go for PHP. If you want to take the less travelled path to development, go for Ruby in Rails for its innovative way of coding. But, if you are more of a testing enthusiast, Python may be your choice for development. It’s all about choice and your need. Each and every language has its own benefits and shortcomings.
Language Usability
Usability is one of the most vital aspects to be considered when choosing a programming language. A language with high usability can diminish the gap between servers and users though their versatile functions. This helps in the overall growth of a web interface by making it robust, powerful and highly scalable.
Here’s a brief into how these languages score on Usability.
| PHP | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| Well documented, but classical approach to development. | Based on PoLA, (Principle of Least Astonishment), it is very powerful & highly scalable. | Strict Indentation Guidelines, easy to read code. |
Ease of Learning/Learning Curve
A programming language having easy readability is also an important aspect. Languages which are easy to learn will always have a decent developer community. It’s an important aspect in your development career especially if you are new to development and wish to grow fast.
| PHP | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| It is intricate but very easy for developers having working knowledge of C. | This is more of an advanced and powerful language which would take experience in one or more programming languages. | It has a very easy to learn syntax, which makes it great for students/beginner developers to learn. |
Popularity and Developer Community
When you decide on going for a language, you want to know how many of you, i.e. your comrades are there. Having a large developer community base is always advantageous for the developer itself to get help in the form of guidelines or even plugins and other patches which would eventually help them in their career growth.
Here’s a bit into how these languages fare on popularity:
| PHP | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| Very popular, has a lot of updates and a good support community including peers and official support. | Not very popular as its a very sophisticated language, the frequency of updates is also long. | It is gaining popularity among the masses as one of the easiest languages, has a lot of updates and very large support community. |
Performance Based Categorization
Performance of any language is an important aspect to choose. You want to make sure that your code has high efficiency and use. Performance can be measured based on speed,responsiveness and security. The number of lines needed to execute a specific function may be different for each language.
NOTE: If you have any queries or are going for a job interviews, make sure to read our Python interview questions.
Here’s some insights:
| PHP | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| Has a very fast run time, lags a but in security but has a very wide support community. | Very fast run time and highly secure but very limited developer community. | Is highly secure and has a decent support community but lags behind in run time execution. |
Job employability and potential Salary
For students and experienced developers, learning a new language always comes down to one thing
“How much am I gonna get paid?”
Analyzing the supply demand in your choice of career growth is always crucial in any field. So, it’s the same for programming languages. You need to keep this is mind as well while thinking of learning a language for professional/career growth.
Let’s have a look at the stats:
PHP vs Python vs Ruby: Pros & Cons
In order to get an overall idea of how to approach your final decision in choosing a programming language, you need to know all the pros and cons of it before finalizing. Remember, be it PHP, Python or Ruby on Rails, each has its own advantages, benefits and shortcomings. You need to understand how a language will most suit your needs and help in your career growth.
If you are going for a job interviews, make sure to read our PHP interview questions.
Here, have a look at the overall features, advantages and shortcomings of PHP, Python and Ruby on Rails:
| PHP | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| Open Source, having license under PHP | Open Source, works on multiple platforms | Open Source, licensed under Python Software |
| Has a very short learning curve | A very high level language, not easy to learn | One of the most easiest languages to master |
| Large community of developers | Limited developer community | Decent community support with many discussion forums |
| Provides extensive database support | Can be embedded in Hyper Text Markup Language | Multi platform support with highly readable and organized syntax |
| Offers wide range of source code and extensions | Has a clean and easy syntax which helps experienced developers learn very easily | Database layer access limitations |
| Allows execution of code in restricted environments | Easy connectivity with Oracle, Sybase, MySQL and DB2 | Has a very slow Run-time, even than slower than Java |
| Offers native session management and extensions API | Very powerful and scalable in terms of maintaining large programs | Can’t function properly on multi-processor/multi-core |
| Great alternative for Microsoft’s ASP ( Active Server Pages) | Has a flexible syntax and its own debugger | Driven by Object-Oriented Programming |
| Woks on almost every Operating System and platform | Ability to write multi-threaded applications using a single API | Easily construct applications with high reusability by carefully choosing packages and modules |
Conclusion
We hope the above information helps you in choosing a development framework suitable to you for your professional growth. We have prepared a list of interview questions. We have placed related interview question pages links. You can visit and read. This will help you to crack your future interviews.