CakePHP vs Node.js- Which one to choose for web application development?
PHP came into limelight after internet took center-stage in the early 2000’s. Being the interpreted language it is, it helped to develop more inter-operable and agile applications ever since its inception. Till date, several PHP frameworks have evolved to be very useful. Out of which, CakePHP comes across as an indispensable name in the list. However, there are rising speculations of PHP made applications prone to security attacks. Which is why, various other alternatives have burst onto the screen, among which Node.js has become a top priority. With node.js believed to be a growing threat for PHP’S general state of things, we take effort in comparing CakePHP and Node.js taking into account various elements.
Ecosystem:
Clearly, in this part of the comparison, CakePHP comes out on the top as the winner. It’s an open source application with plenty of resources like WordPress, loads and loads of free scripts, books and tools. Node.js, on the other hand, is growing at a fast pace. Web developers are pretty comfortable and familiar in handling it, several open-source communities are on the rise too.
Database:
To build queries, prevent SQL injections, debugging and profiling queries, keeping connections to the server and dealing with other relational databases it’s the CakePHP’s database access layer which does the abstraction work. It supports relational database server such as MySQL 5.1+, SQLite 3, PostgreSQL 8+, SQLServer 2008+ and Oracle. However, for Oracle, it needs community plugin. It goes well with all of these entities. Node.js support arc lies within MongoDB, MySQL, and Redis. With the performance in comparison, both seems to satiate reasonably well.
Learning curve:
To start off with, both has a steep learning curve. Understanding PHP beforehand may lead to the easy-going of learning Node.js. However, learning CakePHP isn’t as easy as would imagine but once you get the basics done it becomes much simpler and linear. Coming to Node.js, as already mentioned, with a lack of exposure to server-side web programming, you will find it difficult. It takes a decent amount of time as its documentation is built in such way that only experienced developers will find it easy.
Speed and performance:
CakePHP is fast. But the obvious question that creeps up next is, fast to what extent? Well, it’s fast but definitely not faster than Node.js. It has something to do with the bottleneck in the file system, third-party requests, and database. Ultimately, Node.js is the fastest of the two, thanks to its Google chrome V8 engine technology and non-blocking I/O mechanism.
Final words:
Javascript is the most popular language these days, hands down. But, certainly one just can’t rule out CakePHP on that basis. It all boils down to your needs and demands. Due to the rising popularity and positivity, the general impression of everyone is preferring Node.js. That said, you won’t regret choosing CakePHP as well. It’s Common for one to have longevity concerns over CakePHP, but, it hasn’t reached its dusk yet, if not reaching. Still, there are many Node.js developers, seasoned developers to be particular, involved in development activities both individually or through CakePHP development companies. Needless to say, everything looks good for Node.js. Potentially, the count of both Node.js developers and Node.js development companies has increased tremendously.