With more and more applications being built every day, programming languages too are becoming generic and all-purpose. Every programming language comes with its own set of specialization, and comparison between one programming languages to others may seem like a comparison between apples and oranges. However, comparison between two programming languages may offer you insights that might be crucial in your decision to go for a specific programming languages, especially when it comes to Ruby vs PHP.
Since at RailsCarma, we work with both the ecosystems, we are able to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both. Here are some very simple and easy to understand comparison between Ruby and PHP.
PHP: PHP is a scripting language, used for web development to make interactive pages. The most common frameworks used for PHP are CakePHP, CodeIgnitor, Laravel, etc.
Ruby : Ruby is a scripting language and Rails is a web application framework written in Ruby.
1. To Learn
PHP is simpler to learn as compared to Ruby especially for fresher in development. PHP codes can be easily run on server and deployed.
To maintain the code, some standard needs to be followed. When it comes to frameworks, the benefit of PHP is that, it has more number of frameworks compared to Ruby.
You can find more PHP developers compared to Ruby , which is really helpful for the companies or developers who need to learn the language.
Documents and solutions are easily and readily available for PHP than Ruby , as applications and websites developed in PHP are more in number as compared to Ruby.
2. Resources
PHP provides lots of resources, frameworks and applications, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, whereas Ruby only on Rails in this department.
3. Performance
PHP (language) is faster as compared to Ruby ( on Rails framework) as it was designed only for web, but PHP is almost same or slower when it’s with frameworks like Laravel, CodeIgnitor, etc.
4. Frameworks
Ruby-The more you work on Rails framework, the more you will gain. It helps in providing quality products in less time when compared to PHP.
Rails is a stable framework for Ruby so companies and developers can easily adjust to it by learning one single framework, whereas for PHP there are a lot of frameworks which may make learning confusion. There are also no surety whether all the PHP frameworks will be supported in future or not.
5. Development
Rails is a well-engineered framework for Ruby where most of the necessary things are automated so that developer can just focus on business related work.
The points where PHP lacks are:
- Scaffolding – Generating a code in an easy and straightforward way, helps in faster development, whereas PHP lacks in this regard. However, PHP community has started work on this with FuelPHP providing similar features.
- Gems – Ruby provides plugins as a gem. Just add in your application and it fastens your development. Also, it’s easy to maintain as you are not trying to load libraries. For ex: “Devise” gem which is used for authentication can be just installed in an application to handle all the processes.
- ORM – ActiveRecord in the Ruby on Rails is the best part where you can perform all the database related queries using Ruby. Although PHP frameworks too provide the same but not up to the level of Ruby on Rails.
6. Testing
Ruby has testing rails frameworks that can be used to test your code and provide bug free code and make the client happy, where PHP framework are still trying to get this feature. PHPUnit is one such example.
7. Cost
Development in PHP is much cheaper as compared to development in Ruby on Rails. Since, PHP is easier to learn and implement, it has more developers and so because of resources vs demand scale, it is cheaper to get your website developed in PHP as compared to Ruby.
Conclusion
PHP has very large developer pool, it is easy to learn, has too many framework to choose, can find easy solution with the availability of experienced developers and is affordable.
Ruby has passionate community, is always introducing new changes, application will be quick to market and best suits for agile development.
Looking to get your app developed? RailsCarma can help! Check out our portfolio to understand how we are helping to change the shape of software industry by providing Ruby on Rails Developer. Get in touch with us now!