Consider explaining further what your requirements are. Which db? What kind of app is it? Web api? A good question is half the answer. Honestly, you'd get more valuable and unbiased feedback from gpt rather than random people for broad questions without specifics like this one. The general rule is to pick a tool (language in this case) you're more effective with. Yes, cpp would not be an optimal choice for web api, but you didn't explain this part yet. If you don't know neither of them and have to start from scratch, you could add python and golang to the list. All of them could be good for the task and as a skill overall. There are no distinct considerations for "Easy-to-learn and implement for these tasks. Maintainability and community support" and "performance, security, or ease of integration" that could be interpreted as "use A, don't use B". Python could probably have a slight advantage as an all-round choice

I agree it's tricky to give a view on this without knowing at least a little bit more. Is this intended as a web application? PHP and NodeJS are both great for web applications, in general terms.

But then again, email sending (especially if being done at any scale) is something most people would implement in a background service anyway, rather than being executed directly via a web request. So in theory you could still write that part in another language, if you wanted (although that creates another debate about whether having different components of your architecture written in different languages causes a maintenance problem - it probably depends on the size and skills of the team looking after the software).

The basics of uploading files (from a client to a web app, assuming that's what you meant?) is fairly straightforward in any server-side language or framework - most of the hard work is done by the browser and the webserver anyway. It only gets trickier if you're intending to do it at very large scale - at that point you might want to consider integrating 3rd-party storage solutions and so on. We have no idea of the scope and scale of what you're planning. You're asking big architecture questions but with almost no context provided.

Also why nodeJS and PHP specifically? EstusFlask threw in python and golang, but you could add ASP.NET/C# and Java to the list of possibilities quite easily too.

Hey there! Great question, and you're not wrong to consider either Node.js or PHP—they’re both excellent choices for tasks like sending emails and handling file uploads. Since you’re open to suggestions, I’d personally recommend PHP with the Laravel framework, and here’s why:

1. MVC Structure: Laravel’s MVC framework makes it easier to organize and maintain code. It provides a clear separation of concerns and has intuitive features like namespaced scopes, middleware, and built-in libraries that simplify development.

2. Community and Documentation: PHP, being around longer, has a massive, well-established community, and Laravel is no exception. Its documentation is one of the best I’ve seen, and you can find answers to almost any question quickly—whether through tutorials, forums, or the Laravel ecosystem itself.

3. Focus on Quality over Quantity: While Node.js offers a variety of frameworks (Express, Nest.js, Koa, etc.), PHP has fewer options, and Laravel is the dominant choice. This focused community makes it easier to find high-quality resources and best practices.

4. Ease of File Uploads and Validation: Laravel simplifies common tasks like file uploads and validation. Need to upload to S3, make it private, and generate a temporary access link? You can do that in one line of code:

   $url = Storage::disk('s3')->temporaryUrl($filePath, now()->addMinutes(30));
   

   Similarly, validation rules (e.g., file size, type) are built-in and easy to use.

5. Developer-Friendly Syntax: Laravel’s syntax feels natural and concise, making it great for developers of all experience levels. Whether it’s sending emails with Mail::to() or setting up queues, Laravel gets out of your way and lets you focus on the logic.

6. Deferred Jobs for Time-Consuming Tasks: Laravel makes handling long-running or time-consuming tasks a breeze with its built-in queue system. For example, if you're uploading large files or sending a bulk of confirmation emails, you can offload these tasks to a queue. This ensures the user doesn’t have to wait for the operation to complete. Here’s a quick example:
   ProcessFile::dispatch($filePath)->onQueue('uploads');

   You can configure different queue drivers (e.g., database, Redis, SQS) and even retry failed jobs automatically. It’s a lifesaver for maintaining a smooth user experience while efficiently handling heavy lifting in the background.

Why Not Node.js?

That said, Node.js is a great alternative, especially if your project already involves a JavaScript-heavy stack. It excels in real-time, asynchronous applications, and libraries like Nodemailer and file-handling tools can handle these tasks effectively. However, for tasks like sending confirmation emails and file uploads, Laravel often requires less setup and has more built-in solutions.

Final Thoughts

While I recommend PHP with Laravel for these specific use cases, both Node.js and PHP are capable of getting the job done. The best choice will depend on your team’s familiarity with the language, the rest of your stack, and how you prioritize things like scalability and ease of integration.

Thanks for the update. What exactly would be the means of integrating the web layer with the backend? Does it expose a http interface? Or would the web layer simply write things to a database for a service to process? Or had you thought of something with websockets? Or something else? "Integration" can mean hundreds of different things in practice

Most important part: Performance

PHP is synchronous in nature! meaning it might not handle simultaneous requests as efficiently as Node.js. This could impact performance in high-traffic and heavy-load scenarios.

Some things to consider: PHP requires a separate webserver to operate e.g. Nginx or Apache, while you can start Node.JS as a web server and therefore have more direct control of what persists between sessions etc.

Another thing to consider is how you can interop your C++ code with the web code. Not exactly sure how you intended to do this but it's worth considering that PHP allows you to build C++ code as an extension so you can invoke your C++ functions directly from PHP code. Node.JS with NPM has some similar linking functionality if you make your code work as an NPM module. In both cases you need to specially craft your service code to facilitate this so how easy it will be to do in your existing code is also something worth considering.

I can see the problem in your list of criteria. You are more focused on runtime qualities and less on the development and support as human activity.

And here is the big difference. JavaScript is governed by strict ECMAScript standards, both language, behavior, and all the APIs. The major driving force for strong standardization is the fact that JavaScript is the only scripting standard applied to browsers. Also, JavaScript is one of the most concentrated and well-hilled-up languages. I would say, it follows the Occam razor principle well.

At the same time, PHP was always something sloppy, multi-versioned, focused on immediate this-minute tasks.

I feel that the major incentive for using PHP is the fact that it is always included in the cheapest Web hosting packages.