Python Vs. PHP - Which Is Better?!

[00:00] Python versus PHP, which is better?

[00:02] Let's talk about it. Hey guys, John

[00:03] Elder here from codemy.com and if you're

[00:05] a brand new coder looking to get

[00:06] started, which programming language

[00:08] should you pick? Python or PHP? Let's

[00:10] break it down to these six things. One,

[00:12] how easy are they to learn? Two, how

[00:14] easy are they to code? Three, what are

[00:16] each good for? Four, how are their

[00:17] communities and resources? Five, what's

[00:19] the job outlook for each? And six,

[00:21] what's my final recommendation? First,

[00:23] how easy are they to learn? And the

[00:25] answer is, pretty easy. If you have any

[00:27] sort of coding background or if you

[00:28] already know some other programming

[00:29] language, you can easily pick up the

[00:31] basics through, I'd say, intermediate

[00:33] levels of both Python and PHP in an

[00:35] afternoon. I've several intro courses

[00:37] for both at codemy.com and I also wrote

[00:39] a best-selling Python book and some PHP

[00:40] books that could help. If you're brand

[00:42] new to coding, you can still pick up

[00:43] either in a few days to, I'd say, a week

[00:45] with no problem at all. Python is

[00:46] probably a little bit easier to learn,

[00:48] but PHP is pretty simple, too. Next, how

[00:50] easy are they to code? Python is

[00:52] definitely the easier of the two to

[00:53] code, but PHP is really not bad at all.

[00:55] Python is known for its readability and

[00:57] simplicity. Its syntax is clean and

[00:59] resembles pseudo code, more natural

[01:01] language-like, and it uses indentation

[01:03] to make things easier to read. PHP, on

[01:05] the other hand, can seem just slightly

[01:06] more complicated. The syntax is a little

[01:08] less readable because it uses lots of

[01:10] weird characters, semicolons, and lots

[01:12] of brackets and things like that. It's

[01:13] just a little harder to look at and

[01:15] easily comprehend. Not super hard, but

[01:17] harder than Python. Third, what are each

[01:19] good for? Python is a great general-use

[01:21] programming language. It excels at data

[01:23] science, machine learning, and AI

[01:24] because of popular libraries like NumPy,

[01:26] Pandas Matplotlib Scikit-learn and

[01:28] PyTorch. We've got tons of videos on all

[01:30] of those here on the channel. Python is

[01:31] also great for back-end web development

[01:33] because of popular frameworks such as

[01:34] Django and Flask. It's also great for

[01:36] graphical user interface apps, GUI apps,

[01:39] using the Tkinter and PyQt libraries.

[01:41] We've got tons of Tkinter, PyQt, Django,

[01:43] and Flask courses here at codemy.com.

[01:45] Python is also great at just

[01:47] general-purpose coding. Have repetitive

[01:49] tasks? Python is great at automating

[01:50] them. PHP, on the other hand, is a great

[01:53] server-side scripting language for web

[01:54] pages. While it can be used on its own

[01:56] or in a PHP framework such as Laravel,

[01:58] Cake, or Symphony, the majority of its

[02:01] use will be in powerhouse content

[02:02] management systems such as WordPress,

[02:04] Drupal, or Joomla. As of 2024, some

[02:06] sources put the number of WordPress

[02:08] websites on the entire internet at 43%.

[02:11] Think about that. 43% of all websites

[02:14] are made with WordPress, and PHP powers

[02:16] WordPress. That gives it a ton of clout.

[02:18] Though, outside of web development,

[02:20] you'll be hard-pressed to find many uses

[02:21] for PHP. You may have heard of the term

[02:23] LAMP, which is a massively popular way

[02:25] to deploy web apps. LAMP stands for

[02:27] Linux machines, Apache web servers,

[02:29] MySQL databases, and PHP. LAMP LAMP is

[02:33] super popular because of its relative

[02:34] ease of use, yet pretty high level of

[02:36] functionality. And PHP is usually always

[02:39] installed by default on most basic web

[02:41] hosting packages. Fourth, community and

[02:43] resources. Both Python and PHP have

[02:45] extensive, massive, fanatic communities

[02:47] with robust resources. If you have a

[02:49] question or a problem with your code

[02:51] along the way, you can always expect to

[02:53] find dozens of answers instantly via

[02:55] Google or Stack Overflow for each.

[02:57] Learning resources for each are endless,

[02:59] as well. There are tons of tutorials,

[03:00] books, online courses, and bootcamps for

[03:02] each of them. Five, what's the job

[03:04] outlook for each? Both Python and PHP

[03:06] are two of the most in-demand

[03:07] programming languages in the world.

[03:09] Neither are going away anytime soon.

[03:11] Just head over to any job listing

[03:12] website like indeed.com and search for

[03:14] jobs in your area for each of them.

[03:15] You'll likely find more diverse job

[03:17] opportunities for Python simply because

[03:19] Python does more stuff than PHP does.

[03:21] But, if you're looking to focus solely

[03:23] on web development, especially in a LAMP

[03:25] or WordPress environment, PHP jobs are

[03:27] plentiful and decent paying. Remember,

[03:29] 43% of all websites on the entire

[03:31] internet use WordPress, which uses PHP.

[03:34] Salaries for each are competitive, and

[03:35] it really just comes down to what sort

[03:37] of work you're interested in doing.

[03:38] Finally, which is better? Which do I

[03:40] recommend? Well, to pick between these

[03:42] two isn't really fair since Python is

[03:43] used for so many more things than PHP is

[03:45] used for. So, in that sense, Python is

[03:47] clearly better. But, for what it does,

[03:49] PHP is no slouch. A better comparison

[03:52] might be PHP to JavaScript since they're

[03:54] both primarily web page scripting

[03:55] languages. If you're interested in that

[03:57] comparison, check out the next video in

[03:58] the playlist which should appear

[03:59] somewhere up there. And as always, you

[04:01] can learn all of these languages and

[04:02] frameworks over at codemy.com where you

[04:04] can get 50% off lifetime membership

[04:06] today using coupon code YouTube50. My

[04:08] name is John Elder from codemy.com and

[04:10] I'll see you in the next video.