PHP vs. Ruby

PHP and Ruby are server-side scripting languages - most commonly used to develop web pages.

Comparison chart

PHP versus Ruby comparison chart

	PHP	Ruby
	current rating is 3.64/5 1 2 3 4 5 (117 ratings)	current rating is 3.46/5 1 2 3 4 5 (103 ratings)
Block comments delimiter	/* and */	=begin and =end; also any text after __END__
Statement terminators	Semicolon terminated	Newline terminated
Arrays dynamically sized	Yes	Yes
Inline comments delimiter	// and #	#
Classes	Yes	Yes
String concatenation operator	. (dot)	+ (the plus sign)
Programming paradigms	imperative, object-oriented, reflective	Imperative, object-oriented, reflective, aspect-oriented, functional
OOP (Object Oriented Programming)	Yes, single inheritance.	Yes, but you don't have to.
Multi-dimensional arrays supported	Yes	Yes
Array element access	$array[i]	array[i]
Type checking	Dynamic	Dynamic
Syntax for string length	strlen($string)	string.size or string.length
Garbage Collection	Yes	Yes
Vectorized operations	Yes	Yes
String comparison syntax	strcmp($string1, $string2)	string1 <=> string2
String equality testing syntax	$string1 == $string2	string1 == string2
Typing	Weak typing	Strongly typed
String search syntax	strpos($string, $substring[, startpos]) returns FALSE if search item ($substring) not found	string.index(substring[,startpos]) returns nil if search item (substring) not found
String formatting syntax	sprintf(formatstring, items)	sprintf(formatstring, items)
Syntax for joining an array of strings	implode(separator, array_of_strings)	array_of_strings.join(separator)
Syntax for substring	substr(string, startpos, numChars)	string[startpos, numChars]
Syntax for search and replace within string	str_replace($find, $replace, $string)	string.gsub(find, replace)
Intended use	Web applications, CLI	Applications, scripting
Syntax for reversing a string	strrev($string)	string.reverse
Language design goals	Robustness and simplicity	Expressiveness, Readability
Syntax for converting string to upper case	strtoupper($string)	string.upcase
Examples of Use	WordPress, Wikipedia	Indiegogo, Hulu

Associative Arrays in PHP vs. Ruby

PHP

PHP's built-in array type is in reality an associative array. Even when using numerical indexes, PHP internally stores it as an associative array. This is why one in PHP can have non-consecutive numerically indexed arrays. The keys have to be scalar values (string, floating point number or integer), while values can be of arbitrary types, including other arrays and objects. The arrays are heterogeneous; a single array can have keys of different types. PHP's associative arrays can be used to represent trees, lists, stacks, queues and other common data structures not built into PHP.

In PHP, an associative array can be formed in one of two ways:

$phonebook = array ();
$phonebook['Sally Smart'] = '555-9999'; 
$phonebook['John Doe'] = '555-1212'; 
$phonebook['J. Random Hacker'] = '555-1337'; 

// or 

$phonebook = array (
  'Sally Smart' => '555-9999',
  'John Doe' => '555-1212',
  'J. Random Hacker' => '555-1337',
);

// or 
$phonebook['contacts']['Sally Smart']['number'] = '555-9999'; 
$phonebook['contacts']['John Doe']['number'] = '555-1212'; 
$phonebook['contacts']['J. Random Hacker']['number'] = '555-1337';

You can also loop through an associative array in PHP as follows:

foreach ($phonebook as $name => $number) {
  echo "Number for $name: $number\n";
}

// For the last array example it is used like this 
foreach($phonebook['contacts'] as $name => $num) {
  echo "Name:{$name}"; 
  echo "Number:{$num['number']}"; 
}

PHP has an extensive set of functions to operate on arrays.

Ruby

In Ruby an associate array is called a Hash and is used as follows:

phonebook = {
  'Sally Smart' => '555-9999', 'John Doe' => '555-1212', 'J. Random Hacker' => '553-1337'
}

phonebook['John Doe'] produces '555-1212'

To iterate over the hash, use something like the following:

phonebook.each {|key, value| puts key + " => " + value}

Additionally, each key may be shown individually:

phonebook.each_key {|key| puts key}

Each value may also be shown:

phonebook.each_value {|value| puts value}

References

• PHP and Ruby syntax, side-by-side comparison

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