PHP and JavaScript – Can PHP and JavaScript Do Backend Together?

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I am creating an application with a friend, which we are planning on writing the back end partially in PHP and partially in Javascript with Node.js. Javascripts front-end involvement with PHP makes this a tough question to Google.

We are also using ejs templates, MySql database and it will be run on a Fedora server if those factors matter.

Question: I would like a basic understanding of how they combine and maybe more importantly if it is better to prepare for this merge now or if it is something we can figure out later?

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Why on earth would you ever do that?! I can understand using different languages for tools, server and client side components, but mixing high level, interpreted code for a single component?

Never mind the overhead of just getting PHP and JS to talk to each other on a machine (I'm assuming you'd have to resort to sockets), but you're incurring overhead for developers by forcing context switching across two very different paradigms whenever they want to jump from one portion of server code to another.

Now don't get me wrong.. Node.js has its benefits as does PHP (well, I don't advocate the use of PHP for anything in this day and age, but that's just me). But, unless you're developing a highly complex distributed system with multiple reusable components developed by teams, I can't see the benefit of using two languages to solve one problem in any way, shape or form.

On the other hand, at least you wouldn't have to do any context switching (or minimal at least) if you're jumping from server to client using Node.

Edit:

So, as an actual answer to your question: Yes, they can absolutely be combined together. However, I would not recommend it unless you're building a complex, distributed application with multiple teams which have hired people who are very strong in a given language or technology.

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JavaScript

Use a library. jQuery in particular is very good. It eliminates all cross browser headaches.
Understand that ID's are for particular elements, classes are for styles. ID's shouldn't be used more then once per page and they will have particular hooks attached to them. Use classes for things like navigation.
Out source into methods. It's tempting to put all the code into the bind call, however putting it in it's own function will increase the flexibility of your code.
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HTML

Semantic markup. Use appropriate tags. Don't put <br />'s in there to add space, adjust margins and CSS rules.
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Make use of classes for layout that is similar. Have a couple of predefined classes like hide, clear, error, etc.
Everything (scripts included) should go in <head>. Worry about optimizing (moving stuff around) when it presents a problem.
External stylesheets and JavaScript source is a must unless it is page specific.

PHP

Frameworks are good, I recommend CodeIgniter.
If you don't want to use a framework, try to use the latest version of PHP possible. (That means 5.3).
Use includes to your advantage.
Clear injections or use prepared statements.

Perform if checks on preconceived fail-secure values.

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{
     $logged_in = true;
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Know the difference between single and double quotes. Use single quotes when possible.
Don't echo HTML.

Java – Explain Model View Controller

First I think is best talk about what is MVC Architecture and then go further into the way you are currently programming.

The MVC Architecture is way to organize the workflow inside a sotfware sistem, think about it as a layered way to implement system behaviour. This layers are:

Model: Represents your Data Model, its the system core where all information related to it should be localized. So for example: if you are going to desing a Game you'll need Players, Rules, Obstacles, and some logic related to the interactions of this elements such as : Players should be able to sort Obstacles when some set of Rules apply.

The Model is the first think you should think off because its going to be the center of your applications.
Controller: This is where the magic happens and where the Layered Architecture meets the Object Oriented Paradigm it was intended to use. Here is where you implement how does the system reacts when some application user request something about the app vai the user interface.

The Controller should be able to handle the Model Objects, do operations with them to achieve what the user requested and then delegate the result to the corresponding View Layer to render it back to our user.
View: This is the Start and End Point of User interactions. Here is where you define how users interact with the application. Nowadays is quite common users try to access, for example, web applications from different kinds of media such as: Mobile Phones, Tables, Pcs, Laptops, etc.

Generally each techonologie needs a diferent language to create the view, so imagine that your Data Model and the way that model interacts and how you render that interactions is all hardcoded, there is absolutely no way to reuse your code in a way that is not CopyPaste. The result is code that smells and lots of time wasted adapting the HOLE sysmte.

The virtude of having the View in a separated layer, allow us to work independently from the Model we are currently working on. We only need to know how we should render the list of objects the controller is sendng us. How did he generated it is completly trivial

So , finally we got an independet Model that could be adapted as we see fit according to our current needs (today i need to handle a Monouser Game with no rules, tomorrow i whan to play with friends and now its Multiuser, and so on) that not depends on how are we going to render it to the user. Then, a Controller that captures users request that came from a view , process Model Objects, and then gives the information back to the View to render it.

Back to the first question you asked: Like you can see (i hope) MVC is a WAY to do things and not a TECHNOLOGIE to create software. You could use your java Servlets, and implement a MVC Achitecture under it.

Here is a Q&A example site using a MVC Architecture to clarify a little enter image description here

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