In today’s era, when everyone goes to Google to find a “bakery shop” nearby, not having an online presence is hazardous for any brand or business. That’s why there has been a constant demand for website development for every company, business, organization, etc. This has fueled the growth of web development technologies and the development of different programming languages that can meet various demands of the web development industry. In the web development industry, Java and PHP are the leading programming languages with diverse sets of features, functions, pros, and cons. It is always a debatable topic which is best for web development. PHP helps you to quickly create webpages, while Java lets you develop large and complex web applications. Thus, choosing the right language wouldn’t just impact your web application quality but also provide you an opportunity to boost your business growth.
In this article, we will go through different facets of these two languages, compare them, and discover which would suit your upcoming web application project.
Should You Hire Java Developers?
Java is undoubtedly the most popular programming language globally as it is compatible with different platforms, as today’s app requires cross-platform compatibility.
Java holds a reputation for empowering billions of devices through its platform. It may be due to its simplicity vis a vis C++, as it supports all kinds of object-oriented programming features. Since Java is a compiled language, all of its applications are compiled into bytecodes and executed via the Java Virtual Machine. Java assists you in bridging any gaps that may exist between the source code and the binary numbers. There are a lot of features that are taken from C++ & C and implemented in Java. In this article, we will also discuss why should you hire Java developers.
The leveraging point of Java is that it can be used in any programming, such as server, web, or application programming.
Java Features:
Java holds a diverse set of features whose major ones are:
· Object-Oriented:
In Java, every element is an object because it is an OOPS language. The app built using Java is considered a collection of various objects. These objects can easily incorporate different types of data and behavior.
In OOPS, a set of rules makes the software development process relatively simple. Object, Inheritance, Abstraction, Class, Polymorphism, and Encapsulation are the basic concepts of OOPS.
· Platform Independent:
Unlike any other traditional language, Java isn’t a platform-specific language. Its concept is to write once and run anywhere. The main reason it has gained immense popularity is its ability to run on any device platform. There are two significant components of Java:
1. Runtime Environment
2. Application Programming Interfaces
In summary, you can use a compiler to convert Java code to bytecode, which can be run on various platforms such as Linux, MacOS, Windows, Sun Solaris, etc. The bytecode is cross-platform. Thus, it can be performed on multiple platforms. So, write once and run wherever.
· Security:
Java is considered a secure language for the following reasons:
1. There isn’t any explicit pointer.
2. All Java classes are loaded into the Java Virtual Machine using the JRE’s Classloader. It maintains network-imported classes distinct from local file system classes and in various packages. This improves the application’s security.
3. Java’s Bytecode Verifier checks code snippets for illegal code that may violate object access rights.
4. The Java Security Manager may identify which classes have access to which resources, such as reading or writing to a local disk.
Java has all these security features as default.
· Multi-threaded:
A thread is an individual program that works concurrently. You can define multiple threads in Java to run multiple tasks simultaneously, and you don’t require separate memory storage. All the threads share a common memory. For web application development, multi-threading should be in handy.
· Extensive API Library:
There is a highly extensive library of Java for developing an application of even higher complexity. With Java programs, developing apps with various functions and features is simple.
Pros and Cons of Java:
After knowing the features, let’s understand the pros and cons of Java:
| Pros of Java | Cons of Java |
| Security: You can embed security features in your web app at an early stage with Java. The SDK and JRE from Java provide various security choices, which are effectively increased with each new version of Java. | High Cost: Only some versions of Java are free to use, and developing enterprise-level applications is quite costly with Java. |
| Multiplatform: You can integrate multiple projects in your web development project with Java. The language’s primary feature is a two-step life cycle system that includes compilation and interpretation. | Extra Costs: Additional costs of hardware requirements for CPU and memory |
| High Popularity: Java is among the most popular languages, meaning its developer community is extensive and quite active. | Code Verbosity: Java code is quite verbose, i.e., developers need to write more code lines for development, which increases the chances of errors or bugs. |
| Support: Since it is a popular language, getting support for any issue or roadblock during development is easy. | Lack of Native Feel: It is a weak language regarding the desktop UI/UX. There are 3rd party GUI builders, but it ultimately increases the development time. |
| Interoperability: You can synchronize Java programming language with various databases and APIs. This allows for great interoperability and lowers the cost of integration with different systems and third-party libraries. |
Should You Hire PHP Developers?
PHP has been designed for server-side scripting and web server management. Thus, if you want web server customization and the implementation of additional functionality, PHP is an ideal choice.
PHP is widely utilized and in great demand, ranging from custom web page creation to web server development. PHP doesn’t even require a compiler; all it needs is an interpreter to comprehend PHP statements on a web page and output them in HTML. This HTML code is then sent to the user’s browser; the browser renders it and displays it on the web page. All WordPress-based websites are mainly built using PHP. It has also made server-side scripting possible.
It should be noted that PHP is not limited to web applications; it can be deployed on any operating system for free. It is easy to execute PHP code due to its command line interface. You can use PHP with web frameworks, web CMS (Content Management Systems), and web template systems.
PHP Features:
PHP also holds a vast set of features; let’s go through its important ones:
· Easy to Learn:
If you are a beginner in programming or web development, PHP is the best option for you. You will find its syntax familiar with C, Perl, and Java, and its learning curve is also shallow.
· Quickly Embeddable:
It is easy to embed HTML code if used with PHP. PHP is highly recognized for developing dynamic web pages or websites. The developers can easily add, modify, or delete content from the web pages to make the website attractive and streamlined.
· Scalable:
If you’re seeking a language that’s both reliable and performant, go no further than PHP. It can readily handle increased online traffic without compromising site performance. PHP is an excellent choice for large-scale application development.
· Huge Community:
PHP is one of the biggest communities of developers developing web apps with various frameworks based on PHP. There are also many websites whose purpose is to resolve the queries of PHP developers and help them overcome any roadblocks during development.
· Security:
PHP has in-built pre-defined functions for data encryption that make it secure, but you can also use 3rd party integrations for more security. It is said that security and flexibility don’t come hand in hand, but PHP manages both of them well.
PHP is a secure language for developing CGI scripts. PHP’s strings are encrypted using security techniques such as Sha1 and MD5. Functions like strip_tags and Filter_var help keep the user environment safe and secure.
Pros & Cons of PHP:
After going through the PHP features, let’s delve into the Pros & Cons of PHP language:
| Pros of PHP | Cons of PHP |
| Affordable Development: Cost is among the primary factors in every project. You don’t require any license to use PHP, which reduces the costs. It also requires less memory. | Ineffective Error Handling: PHP is not suitable for handling errors. There are very few debugging tools to find and fix the bugs in the code. |
| HTML Compatibility: PHP, when used with HTML, can assist you in creating dynamic logic for the front end of your website. PHP’s flexibility allows you to create a wide range of sites. | Security: The security level of PHP is low compared to other programming languages. This is due to its open-source nature. Its ASCII text file is readily available. |
| Extensive Community Support: PHP has been in existence for more than three decades; that’s why its community has grown a lot. It offers extensive documentation that benefits programmers with PHP development. | |
Similarities Between Java and PHP:
There are a few similarities and points of comparison between the two languages. Let’s know the Java Vs PHP similarities:
· Syntax and Structure: Both PHP and Java support object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, allowing developers to create classes and objects and use inheritance and encapsulation.
· C-Like Syntax: Both languages have a syntax influenced by the C programming language, which can make transitioning between them somewhat familiar for developers.
· Server-side Web Development: PHP and Java can be used to create dynamic web pages and applications for server-side web development.
· Interactivity: They enable user interaction through forms, authentication, and database integration.
· Community and Ecosystem: Both PHP and Java are large and active developer communities, leading to extensive documentation, libraries, frameworks, and tools for both languages.
· Frameworks: Both languages have a range of frameworks available to simplify and speed up the development process. There are Laravel and Symfony for PHP, while for Java, there are Spring and Java EE (now Jakarta EE).
· Cross-Platform: Java is often praised for its “write once, run anywhere” capability, allowing Java applications to run on various platforms with minimal modification. While PHP is more tied to web development, both languages can be used across different operating systems.
Differences Between Java and PHP:
After delving into the similarities, let’s go through the fundamental differences between Java & PHP:
1. Java is considered a general-purpose programming language, while it is specifically built as a server-side scripting language
2. Java is tightly typed and compiled. Meanwhile, PHP is dynamic yet weakly typed.
3. You can customize and rebuild your site using PHP, while Java has a robust API set.
4. You can overload and override methods in Java, but there are none in PHP. However, PHP allows you to specify parameter selections for methods and functions.
5. PHP is file-based and has no concept of packaging, whereas Java is utilized for a variety of packaging and deployment applications.
6. Java is used to quickly develop complicated applications, whereas PHP is used to generate web pages quickly.
7. PHP is an interpreted language, while Java is an object-oriented compiled language.
8. In PHP, OOP is an option. Java includes object-oriented programming by default.
9. Java is a more secure language than PHP.
10. If you are developing a large enterprise-level project, then Java is a better language, as PHP is suitable for small and medium-sized applications.
Wrapping Up:
In this article, we have gone through a variety of aspects of PHP vs Java Comparison, including the features, pros & cons, and similarities & differences. It makes one thing completely clear: both PHP and Java have their specific purposes and functions.
Java is more suitable for front-end development, while PHP is for back-end development. Whatever the language, the application’s quality is mostly in the developer’s hands. At Octal IT Solution, you can hire PHP developers and Java developers depending on your projects. Let us know your requirements.
