Although many consider PHP an old and subpar language, it remains the most used language across all websites in 2024. Its poor reputation is often associated with WordPress, which is considered one of the worst software of the 21st century.
Besides WordPress, let's quickly explore PHP and why it might be a good choice for web development in 2024.
Performance
PHP is becoming faster over time, particularly with the latest versions, php 8.1 and above, which is quite fast. Although it may be slower than programming languages like Go or Java in some cases, it is comparable to, if not faster than, Python or Node.js in terms of speed.
Development Speed
Even if you're not familiar with PHP, it's quite similar to Python, with only a few minor differences. This similarity helps speed up development. From performing simple CRUD operations to handling files, webhooks and websockets, everything can be done with minimal code. This is because there are libraries available for almost any task you might need to accomplish, eliminating the need to write extensive code yourself.
Deployment
One of the key advantages of PHP is its ease of deployment, even at scale. With a simple PHP server and nginx, you can be up and running in just a few hours.
Scalability
What about scalability? Of course load balancing your application it is necessary with any programming languages especially if you get millions of requests daily, but even if you don't if you correctly implement caching on your endpoints you will not have any problem at all.
Clean Code and Readability
PHP can be messy when it comes to writing clean code. However, using frameworks like Laravel, which provide a boilerplate, solves that problem. Even in large APIs with over 200,000 lines of code (excluding the autogenerated files), the code can remain very readable if you keep it simple.
The only programming language I would consider better for writing clean code is Python.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it's advisable to construct your primary monolith API using PHP/Laravel due to its robust framework capabilities that simplify the management of large codebases. For specialized needs, particularly those involving artificial intelligence or other CPU-intensive operations, consider employing other programming languages that are optimized for such tasks.
This strategic division allows you to leverage the strengths of each language and technology, ensuring efficiency and maintainability across your projects.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this article helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at kourouklis@pm.me, and I will respond.
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