In this technology-driven world where new applications are developed every day and technology is improvising every second, it is vital to have a working knowledge of at least one programming language. It will not only help in getting a job but will also make you self-reliant, improve your problem-solving abilities and help you think out of the box.
Listed below are some of the programming languages that have gained popularity over time based on their ease of usage, their wide-range of applications, job market and overall productivity.
Let’s get started.
1. Python
There is absolutely no doubt that Python tops the list of most popular programming languages. Over the years it has gained popularity among new programmers completely because it is user-friendly, open-source and very flexible. Flask, Django, pyramid are well liked frameworks as they attempt to provide a solution to applications.
Python is the most favoured language among data scientists. One can develop web applications, create graphical user interfaces (GUI), handle data, perform machine learning algorithms, visualise data and an extensive range of applications make Python the desired skill set across many professions and is not limited to just developers and coders.
2. JavaScript
JS is the language of web developers and assists in providing an ultimate business solution. The language excels at the web page and web-server manipulation. JS is not a part of the Java platform and runs on a web browser. It provides multiple frameworks for both front-end and back-end with a major focus on front-end like Node.js, ReactJS, AngularJS, meteor among many others.
JS is very prevalent in the job market and companies like Google, SAP, Facebook etc. actively hires candidates with knowledge in this domain.
3. Java
Java is a widely accepted language and has a huge developers community. Though the language is not as forgiving as JavaScript but has some amazing features like backward compatibility, high security and great performance. The language might have seen some decline in the previous year due to increasing popularity of language like Kotlin but that’s only temporary. Its frameworks include spring, struts, hibernate among others.
4. GoLang
Now, this might be unheard of for non-technical readers but GoLang, a language developed by Google, is a language to watch out for. It is scaling at high rates among tech-enthusiasts.
Go is a new and improved language having the capability to solve many persistent problems of industry like native concurrency, garbage collection etc with its domain spreading from web development to machine learning. Its major frameworks include Revel, Beego, Martini, Iris, Buffalo among others.
5. R Pragramming Language
R is a statistical programming language used by mathematicians, statisticians, data scientists, analysts over the globe. It has regained popularity because of increasing interest in the field of data science. It is open-source, interactive and easily integrated with C/C++.
Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) features more than 12,000 packages that can be installed and used to manage, manipulate and visualize data. It has wide-ranging applications in domains like finance, healthcare, genomics, forecasting, marketing among others.
6. Swift
Swift is an iOS programming language and its demand has been quite stable as there are certain things that can be done in Swift only. It’s a perfect language if you have just started to learn to create applications.
The language is simple, has better readability and dynamic libraries. WebKit, Cocoa Touch, CloudKit are some of the frameworks of Swift.
7. C/C++
Learning C/C++ is always a good idea if you are a beginner as its usage can never vanish completely. Many new-age languages have C/C++ running at the backend.
It might have lost popularity but the language is rock-solid and helps build a foundation.
As an end note, special mention to a language called SQL or sequel which stands for Structured Query Language. Many argue that it’s not a programming language but is still one of the highly desired skill set as data is increasing at an alarming rate. From likes on a particular post to clicks on a web page, data is coming in from different industries and dealing with it is definitely required. MySQL, SQLplus, SQLite are some of the database systems that help to communicate with databases.
In the era of rapid technological changes, programming might be a common thing amongst the millennials but a deep understanding of any of these languages can give you an uplift in your career as it’s the need of the hour and highly recommended.