in response to the previously posted Node.js vs PHP "Smackdown" article on the SitePoint Web blog, PHP blog editor Bruno Skvorc and an author from the SitePoint Javascript channel, James Hibbard, come back with their own rebuttal to some of the points made in the previous article from a more "PHP perspective."

In SitePoint's recent PHP vs Node.js Smackdown, Craig Buckler pitted these development disciplines against each other over a series of ten challenges, to determine which is the overall winner. As Craig notes in the article, these comparisons are always somewhat controversial. As a fun followup, we asked Bruno Skvorc (SitePoint's PHP editor) and James Hibbard (one of SitePoint's JavaScript editors) to provide a commentary on each of the rounds.

For each of the rounds, they start with a summary of the related findings by Craig in the first article and share comments from both Bruno and James. With his slant towards Javascript James often agrees with what the original article stated but Bruno usually disagrees or adds comments in to clarify the PHP side of the situation (from a more insider's perspective).

The SitePoint Web blog has posted a "smackdown" comparing two popular languages, PHP and Node.js, based on several different points.

The web is ever-changing technology landscape. Server-side developers have a bewildering choice of long-standing heavy-weights such as Java, C, and Perl to newer, web-focused languages such as Ruby, Clojure and Go. It rarely matters what you choose, presuming your application works.

But how do those new to web development make an informed choice? I hope not to start a holy war, but I’m pitting two development disciplines against each other: PHP and Node.js.

He goes through ten "rounds" of evaluations on various points including how easy it is to get started, help & support options, development tools available and hosting & deployment options. In the end, it's his opinion that the winner overall (it was close) is Node.js. However, he does end with one word of advice:

My advice: assess the options and and pick a language based on your requirements. That’s far more practical than relying on ‘vs’ articles like this!

In a new post to his blog Keith Casey links to a Developer Smackdown (episode #46) that he participated in while down at SXSW in Austin.

Last month I attended SXSW for the third time. In addition to having a good time and meeting up with friends & colleagues, I had the chance to be a guest on Developer Smackdown to talk about Community and the similarities and differences between them in the PHP and .Net Communities.

You can listen to the recording here - "Unicorn Rhinos, Mexican Martini's, and 2 My Style Community Tacos" - (note, it's on the long side and unfiltered) where Keith and other community members talked about their respective technologies and communities.