What programming language is worth learning today

The most popular programming languages

A programming language is a set of lexical, syntactic and semantic rules that people invented to create programs. You can learn a language to entry level in 6-10 months, but if you make the wrong choice, the language can become obsolete, and you lose time and money.

To keep track of the demand for programming languages, companies make special rankings. Nikolay Vedernikov, teacher at Kodabra online school of digital creativity and programming for children, has chosen the languages that rank high in the TIOBE and IEEE ratings. The first rating includes languages with the most lines of code, while the second uses a bit more criteria. For example, the popularity on job search sites, mentions in services for programmers and social networks.

The most popular programming languages:

• Python
• C
• Java
• C++
• C#
• JavaScript
• PHP
• R
• Arduino

Python programming language

Python is a logical and relatively simple language with a minimalist syntax. It has a small set of basic rules, the language is easy to read and write in it is not difficult. Developers have written for Python many libraries, so you can use ready-made solutions in your projects. The main disadvantage of Python is its low speed. Programs in it will run slower on average than other languages.

In October 2021 Python became the most popular programming language, displacing Java and C from the first ranks.

C programming language

C is one of the oldest and most popular programming languages. It is “light” and fast, so it is used where you need high performance. For example, to create drivers, operating systems or software for microcontrollers. At the same time, C is difficult to learn – much has to be written from scratch. If you compare programming languages with cars, C – a race car, uncomfortable on city roads, but very fast.

The programming language Java

Java is a cross-platform language with many libraries and a large community of developers. Cross-platform is the ability to write a program once and immediately use it on several operating systems: Windows, Linux and MacOS. Thanks to the libraries, Java is suitable for almost everything: working with graphics, sound, creating small games. And in the large community beginner developers can easily find ready-made pieces of code for various tasks and answers to almost any question.

C++ programming language

C++ is a cross-platform C language with extended functions.

A huge number of programmers write code in it, share libraries and templates, and answer beginners’ questions.

C# programming language

C# (C-sharp) is a language originally invented by Microsoft to create Windows applications. It’s an object-oriented language – it’s harder to learn, but easier to use, such as writing less of the same code. With C#, you can work with the WPF platform, which helps to create “beautiful” windowed applications. For example, the latest versions of MS Office.

JavaScript programming language

JavaScript is a fast, cross-platform language for web development. With JavaScript code, the developer “tells” the page how it will respond to user actions. JS can be used to show the user information without reloading the page – this is how drop-down menus, pop-up windows, and windowed keyboards work.

PHP programming language

PHP – used in web development to create programs that run on the server and help process customer requests. PHP is gradually losing popularity, because the servers can be created using other languages. But in PHP are still working many of the previously created sites, such as “VKontakte”.

R programming language

R is a language for data processing, statistics and machine learning. R is constantly competing with Python, it is used more often in scientific research.

Arduino is a programming language.

Arduino is a simplified dialect of C++ that is only used to write programs for Arduino controllers. But these controllers are used almost everywhere – from automatic irrigation devices to full-fledged smart home systems and a variety of robots.

Arduino exists only in conjunction with controllers, so it’s not always considered a complete language. To use it, you need to buy a special board, connect to a computer and use special software to write a program for the controller. But you can write a program, put the controller in the desired device and immediately check how well it works.

General IT trends regardless of programming languages

Code is becoming more readable. In recent years, more and more applications have been developed, including those for mobile devices. Applications are becoming more and more complex in architecture, they need to be constantly updated and maintained – it is important that the code is easy to read and understand. An app can live for ten years. During this time, several developers will change who will need to understand the code written by others. Therefore, it is important that the programs not only solve their tasks, but also be neatly and clearly written.

Mobile development and machine learning are growing in popularity. Mobile development has become commonplace in a few years. Many companies launch only mobile applications, without thinking about their browser and desktop versions. Because of this, mobile development standards are being developed more strongly. On the one hand, this complicates the work, on the other hand, the community benefits from training newcomers to these standards.

Machine learning is becoming an integral part of life – prediction and data processing are all too often helpful in common situations. There are more and more applications for facial recognition and voice-to-text processing.

We need to write code for all platforms. There are more and more platforms – this year Apple equipped its laptops with ARM processors, which it used to use only for smartphones and tablets. So developers have to take into account all the existing technical possibilities and write applications so that they work everywhere.

Employers want to see portfolios on GitHub. While employers used to look at apps that the programmer had a hand in when hiring an employee, now even non-professionals increasingly want to see code. On GitHub, you can see all of a developer’s projects, see how they think and write, how they evolved and grew.

Programming is getting younger. Children and teenagers are learning programming in online courses or on their own. Because of this, as early as 13 or 15 years old, they can write apps, put them on the Appstore or GooglePlay, and even make money. Some of them start their careers as developers in this way and compete with college graduates and older colleagues.