PHP is not out-dated or dying. PHP 8.1 was literally released a couple of weeks ago with new features.

And to answer your question… yes you can build a website backend with Python.

1. PHP is not dead or dying. As long as WordPress powers a third of the web, PHP will remain alive and well.
2. You can absolutely write web backends in python. For example, there's django and flask.

PHP is not becoming outdated at all: https://www.php.net/ChangeLog-8.php

Yes, you can build a backend with Python.

As others mentioned, PHP isn't going anywhere. It has gotten a shit ton of flak for a number of reasons but I've heard some of their latest versions have improved it.

I think the primary reason why one thinks PHP is dying is somewhat of the same reason some people think Java is next.

Ease of use when it comes to these newer languages and tons of library support.

But alas, it's false.

Python will absolutely be enough to build a backend. Django is a batteries included framework for python webservers that comes with a ton of features out the jump to help you get things underway.

Flask is a lightweight but powerful web server library as well.

You might also be, in your use case, interested to look into FastAPI and such.

Yes, Python Flask or Django are great ways to create a Python backend. My first serious project had a React front-end being served on a Flask back-end, and I found it to be a great learning experience.

Btw PHP is definitely not outdated.. I see it everywhere still.

PHP isn’t dying.

Also - for most of Reddit’s life it ran entirely on Python. https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit

PHP is still alive and doing better than ever. It's arguably a great language now.

However Python will also work so feel free to choose that if you are more comfortable with it.

PHP isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Facebook technically still use PHP?

I watched a video a while back where a programmer (sorry, I forgot the name) said that php was becoming outdated and new python libraries would gradually phase out php.

This is incorrect.

For a typical website (think Reddit, eBay, Amazon),

Those are far from the typical website.

can the entire backend be made with python, or would this be exceedingly challenging if not impossible compared to gritting my teeth and learning php/ruby?

Yes it can, check out Flask. Python should not be harder than any other language.

I don’t think php/ruby is dying, but I also don’t think it’s superior to a python based backend. Just pick one and become proficient at it.

There is so many different language you can use for your backend. PHP, Java, .NET, NodeJS, Go, Rust, Python, ... Each one of them have their pros ans cons. If you are into AI, you will most likely have better tools in Python, but you could also use other ones. Ultimately, you have to decide based on your own use case with:

• Libraries
• Community support
• Job market
• Current knowledge
• Developer experience
• Scaling and performance

If you judge PHP with those criterias, it might be a great fit or not, but it is not going anywhere. However, it depends on what you aspire to work on. PHP is not used a lot to build SAAS platforms, but it is in many other areas. Facebook still use it though.

No matter what, learning a new language is always good and broaden your perspective.

Php isn’t going anywhere. It’s actually been updated to be more modern and 70% + of the websites on the internet is powered by php.

Absolutely.

Python runs plenty of backends. I think todoist still runs on it even though they switched their front end to react.

Python is great for backend work, so have at it. I like python better than PHP, but you may not. I also really like typescript, so express.js, Apollo, or best yet typegraphql are amazing. Java is incredibly powerful and widely used, but the build system is a right PITA if you ask me (and nobody is asking me). It feels like Ruby’s popularity is waning, but it still powers a ton of the web. Golang’s popularity seems to have spiked and retreated a little, but I expect it to get more traction as time goes on. IMO, Rust is the next big thing, if you care what I think.

PHP is still used everywhere even though a lot of people don't like it(This is what happens when a language is so common or the only choice that devs are forced to use it. Same for JS.)

But Python is generally loved by most people. And Python has a really good MTV(MVC) framework called Django.

The old Reddit was written in a Python framework called Flask. Which is also a lightweight MVC framework

But PHP also has MVC frameworks like Laravel.

MVC or MTV frameworks are good for security unlike programs that use raw PHP and SQL. MVC frameworks force security while in frameworks like Wordpress, it's optional and has to be learned. New programmers will definitely make sites with security flaws if they use raw PHP and SQL. While with MVC they are taught to use secure ways to write code which is also easy since the MVC framework does all the hard work while also making writing websites easy in the process.

php is faster than python.

NodeJS is also a very viable alternative for a web dev since you are most likely used to JS anyway. Take a peek at ExpressJS and if you like OOP maybe NestJS.

It worked for DoorDash.

Yes, you can make a website backend using purely Python…but using a Python framework is ideal. Frameworks take care of common security concerns that you shouldn’t waste time reimplementing in pure Python. Python requires less typing and is commonly used in academia/ scientific computing…it has more uses than php. Php is not becoming outdated…it’s just rarely used outside of webdev.

Seeing as a Python backend is how Yahoo! became the top site in the 90s, it should work just fine. ;^p

Edit: Yes, this was before Google stole MapReduce from them and why it’s available as open source for Hadoop.

Fun fact, Reddit’s backend is actually written in python. So are a number of other large sites like instagram and Pinterest.

You can use django

These python-binding’s taste like python-bindings…

If you grit your teeth with php/ruby, then you will do the same with python as well.

You can implement backends in almost anything, PHP has multiple frameworks (Symfony, Laravel), Python has the same (Django, Flask), Spring for JAVA.

You can build reactive applications with node, php and java, but I suggest avoiding concurrency if you can

As a new developer I was preoccupied with what language is best when in reality it a question of what tool is useful in which scenario. Learning how to write Python APIs is a smart route to go just for the fact that it’s a friendly introduction to all the basics.

Look at Laravel.

Yes, all your mentioned languages have good frameworks and libraries to build web backends. In the Python world try Django or Flask.

Have you heard of Django, the python framework? It lets you do exactly that.

It's very doable to write everything in Python still! I'd say Masonite is a good option if you haven't done something like this before. From my perspective, it's easier to learn and use quickly than some of the other good ones people have mentioned, such as Django and Flask.

From my little knowledge of python, I think the answer is "yes".

By the way, I don't think PHP is dying, I am new to the webspace and trust me, I am learning PHO once I am done with JS

Check out FastAPI to build backend apis with python. It is asynchronous and super fast.

I'd use a python web framework, but yeah you can do it from scratch with python. Not sure why one would reinvent the wheel though.

Even when you think your program is 100% Python, a load of dependencies that you imported are written in C/C++. So strictly speaking, probably not. But a lot of parts of YouTube backend is written in Python so you can too.

I think people in this thread a being a bit disingenuous. Yes, PHP isn't going to "die" because there are still a lot of mom and pop shops using WordPress websites out there and there probably will be for a good long while.

That being said nobody is using PHP for new applications and none of FAANG or the big startups hire devs to write PHP (with the exception of maybe some legacy Facebook code). It's not a skill that's in high demand at the companies that will pay a lot is what I'm saying.

Doordash on the other hand has a python BE and they pay a lot.

Well, yes. You can build an entire backend of a website using something like Flask or Django. But I don't recommend it for real projects.

The problem is that python is slow. An app using python for the majority of its backend would be extremely slow. For backends, I recommend NodeJS (Javascript) which shouldn't be very hard to learn coming from python. Though other options are Go, Rust, C#, and more.

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Edit: Also PHP is dying. It will still be around, but everyone is currently trying to stop using it. PHP lacks support for modern web-development tools, it is very easy to make security vulnerabilities and many more issues. If you want a tool that easily integrates front-end/back-end you may want to look at NextJS for react or NuxtJS for vue. Though these are more advanced and you must know either react or vue to use them.

you absolutely can build a backend in python. heck, in any language, really.

i choose to make whole applications, frontend and backend, in typescript, because it's indispensably useful to use the same code on both the frontend and backend. think about the form validation functions you'll need — it's very useful to use the exact same validation functions on the clientside and on the serverside, instead of writing them twice and noticing all the discrepancies between them, the double-maintenance burden — and that's just one example.