[tegeek]

I'm sick of all of these generic SPEED benchmarks. Let me tell you some BIGGEST & REAL benefits of NodeJS where PHP SUCKS.

1. Takes 1 minute to install on any platform (*nix, windows etc.)

2. A modern Package Manager (NPM) works seamlessly with all platforms.

3. All libraries started from 0 with async baked in from day 0.

4. No need to use any 3rd party JSON serialize/deserialize libs.

5. And above all, its Atwood's law

"any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript".

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/08/all-programming-is-...

[Wilya]

Not meaning to troll but:

1. apt-get install php5 ? Seriously, that's it. On the other hand, neither Debian stable nor Ubuntu LTS have any usable version of node in their package repository (Debian has nothing, Ubuntu has 0.6)

4. json_decode() ?

5. If Atwood's law ever becomes reality, it will be a consequence, not a source of benefit.

(I don't use either Node or PHP as my main language)

[tegeek]

I've developed software in Java,.NET, Php & NodeJS. I ll rate JVM higher than any other platform. But when it comes to simplicity, easy scalability, Node ranks way higher. Php isnt even closer at all.

NodeJS literally takes 5 minutes to get started writing scalable apps without even thinking about concurency at all.

Write a software in Php yourself and let people download and run themselves, there are endless pain. Actually Php sucks in many areas which I dont want to touch right now.

[RRRA]

Actually Debian testing has : nodejs 0.10.21~dfsg1-1

[debaserab2]

I think the only valid point here is your 3rd one.

1. You have to be kidding, right? PHP's popularity is precisely because of this.

2. getcomposer.org

4. json_decode/json_encode have been a part of PHP since PHP 5.2 (2006)

5. That's not a benefit.

[bpicolo]

No, it's popularity is because it was the simplest a long time ago, and it's supported on lots of virtual boxes by default.

Composer is terrible compared to NPM.

[dubcanada]

Says you :)

And so is PHP. You cannot argue that PHP is not simple, you just can't.

And frankly I like composer, sure it doesn't do C/C++ installation stuff, but PHP doesn't need that. What is does is almost identical to NPM, the only different is one looks different, and the names.

[debaserab2]

..and how do you think it got on all of those boxes? That's a chicken/egg argument.

Composer accomplishes the goals of being a "modern package manager that works on all platforms".

[RossM]

I'm not 100% on whether this is serious or not, but what the hell:

1. My recent installs of node have required compiling from source to get anything remotely up-to-date, however there are packages for both,

2. Composer with the Packagist registry is comparable here - you might be thinking of PEAR.

3. JS certainly has much better async support - it being JavaScript after all.

4. PHP has JSON encoding/decoding bundled, no third party lib required.

5. For better or worse

[octo_t]

Yet there are no decent XML libraries for node.js.

I'd trade decent JSON support for decent XML support every single day of the week.

And Scala/Java/JVM have already solved the problems you mention above.

[simonw]

"I'd trade decent JSON support for decent XML support every single day of the week."

Just out of interest, why is that?

I work with JSON at least once a week, but it can be months between moments when I need to work with any XML.

[glenjamin]

I quite like https://npmjs.org/package/sax

What is it you think is missing XML-wise in Node.js?

[tegeek]

1. libxmljs can take you pretty far with NodeJS.

2. Whatever we're saying here includes only NodeJS vs PHP.

[jbeja]

You seriously don't know what are you talking about.

[balac]

All your points are good apart from 4, don't the native json_encode() / json_decode() functions do what you need?

[girvo]

Actually, only 3 is good. The rest are incorrect, entirely, and 5 is debatable as to whether that's a good thing.