If you are a newbie in the field of software development, the very first question comes to your mind is “Where to begin?” That’s undoubtedly true!
There are hundreds to choose from, but how will you discover that yes, that’s the one? Which will be most suitable for you, your interests and career goals?
One of the easiest ways to pick the best programming language to learn for 2020 is by listening to what the market says, where the tech trend is going…
Moving down, you will find some of the best and most demanding programming languages for web development, mobile development, game development and more.
At the very end, you’ll be having a clear picture of which programming languages can help your career boost in upcoming years and beyond that.
Let’s dive in…
1. JavaScript
It seems impossible to be a software developer these days without using JavaScript. The first one in the list is JavaScript, it seems impossible to imagine software development without JavaScript.
Looking at the Stack Overflow’s 2018 Developer Survey, JavaScript is the most popular language among developers successively for 6 years. And around 65% of them have used this language in the past year.
Primarily, JavaScript is light weighed, interpreted and plays a major role in front-end development. Even some of the major social media platforms believe that JavaScript provides an easy way to create interactive web pages smoothly and is career-driven.
JavaScript is most preferred because of its compatibility with all the major browsers and is really flexible with the syntax it holds. Being a Front-end language, JavaScript is also used on the server-side through Node.js.
Above all make JavaScript loveliest programming language among the beginners.
2. Python
This may surprise you; I have kept python on number #2, in many of the surveys it is positioned on number #5. But, I will definitely let you believe, here’s why?
Python is one of the general purpose, user-friendly programming language here on my list. What makes it so? Like Java, Python syntax is clear, intuitive and almost similar to the English language. Python’s “object-based” subset is somewhere similar to JavaScript.
According to Stack Overflow, there is one section which says “To be adopted or migrated to be—or to migrate too soon”, and for python, it’s 12% which is highest. Broadly, people who have migrated to python are close to 42%, which signifies it to be at number #2.
If you are interested in making your career in back-end development, like Django – Open source framework, is written in python, which makes it easy to learn and feature-packed, yet popular. Also, python has a variety of applications that make it a versatile and powerful.
Being so popular in areas like scientific computing, and machine learning and engineering, Python supports a programming style that uses simple functions and variables without much interrogating in class definitions.
3. Java
If anybody asks why java, most frequent sentence comes up would be “write once, run everywhere” – Java has been the ruling programming language for the last 20 years. Java is 99% object-oriented and is robust as java objects contain no references to data external to themselves. It is simpler than C++ because Java uses automatic memory allocation and garbage collection.
Java is highly cross-platform compatible or platform independent. Since you can code anywhere (I mean on all devices), compile into low-level machine code, and finally, execute on any platform using JVM – Java Virtual Machine (which is platform dependent).
Java forms the base for the Android operating system and opted around 90% fortune 500 companies for making a variety of back-end applications. I would not hesitate for taking the biggest sensation Apache Hadoop data processing, run by Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure.
With so many good reasons and a wide range of business applications, possessing immense flexibility and java is all time beginners’ favorite.
4. C/CPP
“Old is gold” – C has proved this quote in different ways. Being introduced in the late 1970s, C has made a strong contribution to the world of programming.
C has been the parent language of a handful; some are either derived from C or inspired by its syntax, constructs, and paradigms, including Java, Objective-C, and C#.
Even, nowadays, it is seen, whenever there is a need to build high-performance applications, C remains the most popular choice.
Linux OS is C based. And CPP is the hybrid version of C. C++ is an object-oriented programming language and which is built on C; therefore it is preferred over others for designing higher-level applications.
C++ is seeing as more performing than dynamically typed languages because the code is type-checked before it is executed on real grounds. Core areas of developments are Virtual Reality, gaming, computer graphics etc.
5. PHP
This fact would seriously amaze you, the language which was created for a purpose of maintaining Personal Home Page (PHP) for Rasmus, have actually taken over around 83% of websites globally by today.
PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is a general-purpose programming language. Clearly, PHP is a scripting language, which runs on a server, and it is used to create web pages written in HTML. It is popular because it is free, cheap, easy to set up and simple to use for new programmers.
PHP is a very strong option for web developers around the globe. It is widely used to create dynamic web page content, and images used on websites. It’s hitting on number #5 because of its broad range of usage. Also, PHP is well dressed for WordPress CMS (Content Management System).
One of the reason, it has lagged down to number #5, PHP downgrades the website performance and affects the loading time.
6. Swift
Next on the list is Swift. As smooth as its name, Swift is a general-purpose, open-source, compiled programming language developed by Apple Inc. If you are looking develop to native iOS or Mac OS apps then, Swift is barely needed for its development.
Swift is deeply influenced by Python and Ruby and was designed to be beginner-friendly and fun to use. Swift is considered to be a faster, more secure, and easier to read and debug than its predecessor Objective-C.
Unlike Objective-C, Swift requires less code, resembles with natural English. Hence, it becomes easier for existing techies from JavaScript, Java, Python, C#, and C++ to switch to Swift without hassle.
Besides this, some of the challenges are its limited talent pool. You may not find many Swift developers around you as compared to other open source languages. Recent surveys say, only 8.1% of the 78, 000 respondents use Swift, which is lesser compared to others. And due to frequent updates, Swift is considered to be less stable with every new release.
7. C# (C- Sharp)
C-sharp is a powerful, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft in 2000. C-sharp is utilized in developing desktop applications and more recently, Windows 8/10 applications and requires a .NET framework to function.
Microsoft developed C# as a rival to Java. Actually, Sun did not want the interference of Microsoft to make changes in Java. So, it was created.
C# has a variety of features which makes it easier to learn for the beginners. The code is consistent, and logical as compared to C++.
Spotting errors in C# are easy as it is statically typed language, where the code is checked before turning it to an application.
In short, it is perfect to develop web applications, desktop application and also proved itself in VR, 2D, and 3D gaming. Cross-platform tools like Xamarin have written in C# makes it all devices compatible.
8. Ruby
An open source, dynamic programming language, focused on simplicity and productivity, developed in mid-1990 in Japan. It was designed with themed of simplifying the programming environment and making more fun.
Ruby becomes popular by Ruby on Rails framework, a full-stack web framework. Ruby has dynamically typed language, it does not have hard rules and it is a high-level language which resembles with the English language to a great extent.
In short, you can build an application with less line of code. But the challenge of Ruby is being dynamically typed language, it’s not easy to maintain and its flexibility makes it’s slow.
9. Objective-C
Objective-C (ObjC) is an object-oriented programming language. It is used by Apple for the OS X and iOS operating systems and their application programming interfaces (APIs). It was developed in the 1980s and came in usage by some of the earliest operating systems.
Objective-C is object-oriented, general purpose. You can call it hybrid C because of the features it adds to C programming language.
10. SQL
SQL (es-que-el) stands for Structured Query Language, is a programming language to operate databases. It includes storing, manipulating and retrieving data stored in a relational database.
SQL keeps data precise and secure, and it also helps in maintaining the integrity of databases, irrespective of its size.
SQL is used today across web frameworks and database applications. If you are well versed in SQL, you can have better command over data exploration, and effective decision making.
If you are planning to opt database management as your career, first go through C or C++. SQL developers are in great demand and offered high pay scales by reputed organizations.
Wrapping up!
Since, the software industry changes with every new update or release. “What is the best programming language of the world?” is hard. If you want to start your career as a developer, it is only you who can decide which one is best suited as per your interest in varying fields.
Let’s choose:
- Front-end web development – JavaScript
- Back-end web development – JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, C#
- Desktop application – Java, C++, Python
- Mobile development – Swift, Java, C#
- Game development – C++, C#
Once again, here is the list of top 10 programming languages to start with:
- JavaScript
- Python
- Java
- C/CPP
- PHP
- Swift
- C#
- Ruby
- Objective – C
- SQL
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