7 THE BEST DEMANDING PROGRAMMING LANGUAGEs IN 2020.
There are around 600 programming languages out there. The demand and popularity of programming languages fluctuate every year. Also, new programming languages are coming with attractive features.
So, which programming language should you learn? Learning a new programming language is always an investment of your time and brainpower.
Now, I will summarize the top 7 b best demanding programming
languages along with historical context, key features, and primary use cases.
languages along with historical context, key features, and primary use cases.
1. Python
When Guido van Rossum developed Python in the 1990s as his side project, nobody has thought it would be the most popular programming language one day. Considering all well-recognized rankings and industry trends, I put Python as the number one programming language overall.
Python has not seen a meteoric rise in popularity like Java or C/C++. Also, Python is not a disruptive programming language. But from the very beginning, Python has focused on developer experience and tried to lower the barrier to programming so that school kids can also write production-grade code.
In 2008, Python went through a massive overhaul and improvement with the cost of introducing significant breaking changes by introducing Python 3.
Today, Python is omnipresent and used in many areas of software development, with no sign of slowing down.
3 Key Features:
- The USP of Python is its language design. It is highly productive, elegant, simple, yet powerful. Python has set the gold standard in terms of developer experience and heavily influenced modern languages like Go, Julia.
- Python has first-class integration with C/C++ and can seamlessly offload the CPU heavy tasks to C/C++. Also, Python gives powerful toolset for Mathematics, Statistics, and Computational Science with various libraries
- Python has a very active community and support. You can always find enough Python libraries and frameworks, no matter whether you are working on Enterprise Applications, Data Science, or Artificial Intelligence.
Popularity:
In the last several years, Python has seen enormous growth in demand with no sign of slowing down. The programming language ranking site PYPL has ranked Python as the number one programming language with a considerable popularity gain in 2019:
 |
| Add caption |
- Data Science
- Data Analytics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Enterprise Application
- Web Development
Job Market:
According to Indeed, Python is the most demanding programming language in the USA job market with the highest 74 K job posting in January 2020. Also, Python ranked third with a $120 K yearly salary.
2. JavaScript
During the first browser war, Netscape had assigned Brendan Eich to develop a new programming language for its Browser. Brendan Eich had developed the initial prototype in only ten days, and the rest is history. Software developers often ridiculed JavaScript in its early days because of its poor language design and lack of features.
Over the few years, JavaScript has evolved into a multi-paradigm, high-level, dynamic programming language. The first significant breakthrough of JavaScript came in 2009 when Ryan Dahl has released cross-platform JavaScript runtime Node.js and enabled JavaScript to run on Server Side.
The other enormous breakthrough of JavaScript came around 2010 when Google has released a JavaScript based Web development framework AngularJS.
Today, JavaScript is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world and runs on virtually everywhere: Browsers, Servers, Mobile Devices, Cloud, Containers, Micro-controllers.
3 Key Features:
- JavaScript is the undisputed king in Browser programming. Today, Web development is dominated mainly by JavaScript based SPA frameworks like React, Vue.js, Angular.
- Thanks to Node.js, JavaScript offers event-driven programming, which is especially suitable for I/O heavy tasks. Today, JavaScript and Node.js run on almost all Platforms, including Servers and Mobile devices.
- JavaScript has gone through massive modernization and overhaul in the last several years, especially in 2015, 2016, and later. The major JavaScript releases like ES5, ES6 has added many modern features, and JavaScript of today is entirely different from JavaScript of the last decade.
Popularity:
JavaScript is one of the most top-ranked programming languages because of its plethora use in all platforms and mass adoption.
Octoverse has put JavaScript as the number one programming language for five consecutive years by GitHub repositories contributions:
Also, StackOverflow developer survey 2019 has ranked JavaScript as the most popular programming language and Technology:
The trending of JavaScript is relatively stable, as shown by Google Trends:
Main Use Of JavaScript:
- Web Development
- Backend Development
- Mobile App Development
- Serverless Computing
- Browser Game Development
Job Market:
In the USA Job market, Indeed has ranked JavaScript as the third most demanding programming language with 57 K Job posting in January 2020. With $114 K average yearly salary, JavaScript ranks 4th in terms of salary:
3. Java
Java is one of the most disruptive programming languages to date. Back in the ’90s, business applications were mainly developed using C++, which was quite complicated and platform dependent. James Gosling and his team in Sun lowered the barrier to develop business applications by offering a much simpler, object-oriented, interpreted programming language that also supports Multi-threading programming.
Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which abstracted the low-level Operating System from developers and gave the first “Write Once, Run anywhere” programming language.
In recent years, Java has lost some of its markets to highly developer-friendly modern languages and the rise of other languages, especially Python, JavaScript. Also, JVM is not quite Cloud friendly because of its bulky size. Oracle has recently introduced hefty licensing fees for JDK, which will dent Java’s popularity further.
Fortunately, Java is working on its shortcomings and trying to make Java fit for Cloud via the GraalVM initiative. Also, in OpenJDK, there is a free alternative to the proprietary Oracle JDK.
Java is still the number one programming language for enterprises.
3 Key Features:
- Java offers a powerful, feature-rich, multi-paradigm, interpreted programming language with a moderate learning curve and high developer productivity.
- Java is strictly backward compatible, which is a crucial requirement for business applications. Java has never introduced a major breaking change like Python or Scala. As a result, it is still the number one choice for enterprises.
- Java’s runtime JVM is a masterpiece of Software Engineering and one of the best virtual machines in the industry. With 25 years of innovation and engineering craftsmanship, JVM offers high performance and features to Java. Also, JVM provides some advanced Garbage Collection to Java.
Popularity:
Only after five years of its release, Java becomes the 3rd most popular programming language and always remained in the top 3 lists in the next two decades. Here is the long-term history of Java in the popular TIOBE ranking:
Java’s popularity has waned in the last few years, but it is still the most popular programming language, according to TIOBE, as shown below:
The other popular programming language ranking website PYPL has ranked Java as 2nd most popular programming language:
StackOverflow developer survey also ranked Java high and only superseded by JavaScript and Python programming languages:
According to Google trends, Java is losing its traction constantly in the past five years:
Job Market:
According to Indeed, Java is the second most demanding programming language in the USA with 69 K Job posting in January 2020.
Also, Java developers earn the 6th highest annual salary ($104 K):
Main Use Of Java:
- Enterprise Application Development
- Android App Development
- Big Data
- Web Development
4. C#
In 2000, Tech giant Microsoft decided to create their Object Oriented C like programming language C# as part of their .NET initiative, which will be managed (run on a Virtual Machine like Java). The veteran language designer Anders Hejlsberg designed C# as part of Microsoft’s Common Language Initiative (CLI) platform where many other (mainly Microsoft’s languages) compiled into an intermediate format which runs on a Runtime named Common Language Runtime (CLR).
During the early days, C# was criticized as an imitation of Java. But later, both of the languages diverged. Also, Microsoft’s licensing of C# compiler/runtime is not always clear. Although Microsoft is currently not enforcing its patents under the Microsoft Open Specification Project, it may change.
Today, C# is a multi-paradigm programming language that is widely used not only on the Windows platform but also on the iOS/Android platform (thanks to Xamarin) and Linux platform.
3 Key Features:
- Anders Hejlsberg did an excellent job to bring C# out of Java’s shadow and give its own identity. In terms of developer experience, C# is ahead of Java.
- Backed by Microsoft and being in the industry for 20 years, C# has large ecosystems of libraries and frameworks. The ASP.NET is used for Web Development, especially on Windows.
- Like Java, C# is also platform independent (thanks to CLR) and runs on Windows, Linux, Mobile devices.
Popularity:
StackOverflow developer survey has placed C# as the 4th most popular language (7th most popular Technology for 2019:
As clear from Google trends, C# is not being much hyped in the last few years, as show before.
Job Market:
Indeed has posted 32 K openings for C# developers in the USA, which makes C# the 5th most demanding programming language in this list. With an annual salary of $96 K, C# ranks 8th in this list:
StackOverflow developer survey has placed C# above Java (albeit with more experience) in terms of global average.
5. C
During the 1960s and 1970s, every cycle of the CPU and every byte of memory was expensive. Dennis Ritchie, a Bell lab engineer, has developed a procedural, general-purpose programming language that is compiled directly to machine language during the 1969–1973. C programming offers low-level access to memory and gives full control over the underlying hardware.
Over the years, C became one of the most used programming languages. Besides, C is arguably the most disruptive and influential programming language in history and has influenced almost all other languages on this list.
Although C is often criticized for its accidental complexity, unsafe programming, and lack of features. Also, C is platform-dependent, i.e., C code is not portable. But if you want to make the most use of your hardware, then C/C++ or Rust is your only option.
3 Main Features:
- As C gave low-level access to memory and compiled to Machine instructions, it is one of the fastest and most powerful programming languages.
- C gives full control over the underlying hardware. C program can run on every platform and take advantage of every kind of hardware, whether it is GPU, TPU, Container, Cloud, Mobile devices, or Microcontroller.
- C is one of the “Programming languages of the Language,” i.e., compilers of many other programming languages like Ruby, PHP, Python have been written in C.
Popularity:
C is the oldest programming language in this list and has dominated the industry for 47 years. C has also ruled the programming language popularity ranking more than any other language as clear from TIOBE’s long-term ranking history:
According to TIOBE ranking, C is the second most popular language with a huge popularity gain in 2019:
Main Use Of C:
- System Programming
- Game Development
- IoT and Real-Time Systems
- Machine Learning, Deep Learning
- Embedded Systems
Job Market:
According to Indeed, there are 28K job postings for C developers in the USA, which make C the 6th most demanding programming language. In terms of salary, C ranks 6th with Java ($104 K):
6. C++
Bjarne Stroustrup has worked with Dennis Ritchie (creator of C) in Bell Lab during the 1970s. Heavily influenced by C, he first created C++ as an extension of C, adding Object-Oriented features. Over time, C++ has evolved into a multi-paradigm, general-purpose programming language. Like C, C++ also offers low-level memory access and directly compiled to machine instructions.
C++ also offers full control over hardware but with the cost of accidental complexity and does not provide language-level support for memory safety and concurrency safety. Also, C++ offers too many features and is one of the most complicated programming languages to master.
C++ is once again gaining popularity with the rise of GPU, Containerization, Cloud computing, as it can quickly adapt itself to take advantage of Hardware or Ecosystem changes.
Today, C++ is one of the most important and heavily used programming languages in the industry.
3 Main Features:
- Like Java, C++ is also constantly modernizing and adapting itself with changes in Hardware or Ecosystem. Modern C++ is a much safer, productive niche compared to older C++ versions.
- Like C, C++ also gives full control over the underlying hardware and can run on every platform and take advantage of every kind of hardware, whether it is GPU, TPU, Container, Cloud, Mobile devices, or Microcontroller.
- C++ is blazingly fast and used heavily in performance-critical and resource-constrained systems. Many fantastic software like Java Virtual Machine, Chrome V8 Engine, lots of databases is written in C++.
Popularity:
C++ is the second oldest programming language in this list.
Octoverse has ranked C++ in 6th position by GitHub repository contributions:
Also, StackOverflow Developer Survey in 2019 has listed C++ as the 9th most popular Technology (6th most popular) you can see before statastics.
Although C++ is facing massive competition from modern programming languages like Rust or Go, it is still generating stable interest in the last five years.
Main Use Of C++:
- System Programming
- Game Development
- IoT and Real-Time Systems
- Machine Learning, Deep Learning
- Embedded Systems, Distributed Systems
Job Market:
Indeed has ranked C++ as the 4th most demanding programming language with 41 K job posting. Also, C++ developers earn $108 K per annum, which places it in 5th place:
StackOverflow developer survey has shown that C++ developers can draw a higher salary compared to Java, albeit with a longer experience:
7. PHP
Like Python, PHP is another programming language developed by a single developer as a side project during the ’90s. Software Engineer Rasmus Lerdorf has initially created PHP as a set of Common Gateway Interface binaries written in C to create dynamic Web Applications. Later, more functionalities were added to the PHP product, and it organically evolved into a fully-fledged programming language.
At present, PHP is a general-purpose, dynamic programming language mainly used to develop server-side Web applications.
With the rise of JavaScript based client-side Web application development, PHP is losing its appeal and popularity, and PHP is past its prime. Contrary to popular belief, PHP will not die soon, although its popularity will gradually diminish.
3 Key Features:
- PHP is one of the highly productive Server-Side Web development programming languages. As a result, it is widely used in the industry to develop a Web application at a rapid pace. The most prominent social networking Facebook was developed in PHP.
- As PHP is used in Web development for the last 35 years, there are many successful and stable PHP frameworks in the market.
- Many giant companies are using PHP (Facebook, Wordpress), which leads to excellent tooling support for it.
Popularity:
The programming language ranking site TIOBE has ranked PHP as the 8th most popular programming language in January 2020. Although the long term ranking history of PHP shows that PHP is past of its prime and slowly losing its appeal:
Octoverse has ranked PHP as the 4th most popular programming language by GitHub repositories contribution:
As per StackOverflow developer survey 2019, PHP is the 5th most popular programming language (8th most popular Technology)go before the see statasticks.
Although PHP is still one of the most widely used programming languages, it’s trending is slowly going down as clear from Google Trends.
Main Use Of PHP:
- Server-side Web Application Development
- Developing CMS systems
- Standalone Web Application Development.
Job Market:
Job Search site Indeed has ranked PHP as the 7th most demanding programming language in the USA job market with 18 K positions in January 2020. Also, PHP developers can expect a reasonable salary ($90 K) which places them in 10th position in this category:
Comments
Post a Comment
If you any doubt please let me know.