Whether you’re just a tech-head that likes tinkering with code in your spare time, or trying to start (or advance) a career in software development – if you’re going to put aside the time and energy needed to learn new programming languages, you want to make sure, without a doubt, that the ones you choose are the most in-demand programming languages on the market.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the 7 most in-demand programming languages and give you a few pointers on why you want to learn them.
1. Python
Python undoubtedly tops the list. It is widely accepted as the best programming language to learn first. Python is a fast, easy-to-use, and easy-to-deploy programming language that is being widely used to develop scalable web applications. YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, SurveyMonkey are all built-in Python. Python provides excellent library support and has a large developer community. The programming language provides a great starting point for beginners. Talking about those who are looking for a better job, you should definitely learn Python ASAP! A lot of startups are using Python as their primary backend stack and so, this opens up a huge opportunity for full-stack Python developers. If you plan to get into the data science or AI industry you must learn Python. However, the language can also be used in other areas of development example web development.
2. Java
Java is another popular choice in large organizations and it has remained so for decades. Java is widely used for building enterprise-scale web applications. Java is known to be extremely stable and so, many large enterprises have adopted it. If you are looking for a development-based job at a large organization, Java is the language that you should learn. Java is also widely used in Android App Development. Almost any business today needs an Android Application owing to the fact that there are billions of Android users today. This opens up a huge opportunity for Java developers given the fact that Google has created an excellent Java-based Android development framework – Android Studio.
3. C/C++
C/C++ is like the bread and butter of programming. Almost all low-level systems such as operating systems, file systems, etc are written in C/C++. If you wish to be a system-level programmer, C/C++ is the language you should learn. C++ is also widely used by competitive programmers owing to the fact that it is extremely fast and stable. C++ also provides something called STL – Standard Template Library. STL is a pool of ready-to-use libraries for various data structures, arithmetic operations, and algorithms. The library support and speed of the language make it a popular choice in the High-frequency trading community as well.
4. JavaScript
JavaScript is the “front end” programming language. JavaScript is widely used to design interactive front-end applications. For instance, when you click on a button that opens up a popup, the logic is implemented via JavaScript.
These days, many organizations, particularly startups, are using NodeJS which is a JavaScript-based run-time environment. NodeJS lets developers use JavaScript for server-side scripting—running scripts server-side to produce dynamic web page content before the page is sent to the user’s web browser. With JS, you can use a single programming language for server-side and client-side scripts. If you are looking for that cool tech job at your favorite startup, you should seriously consider learning JavaScript.
5. PHP
PHP is among the most popular backend programming language. Though PHP is facing tough competition from Python and JavaScript, the market still needs a large number of PHP developers. Those who wish to join a reasonably well old organization as a backend developer should aim to learn PHP programming.
6. C#
C# is a general-purpose programming language developed by Microsoft. C# is widely used for backend programming, building games (using Unity), building Windows mobile phone apps and lots of other use cases.
7. MATLAB
MATLAB is a statistical analysis tool that is used in various industries for Data Analysis. MATLAB is used widely in the Computer Vision and Image processing industry as well.
We hope this article helps you decide which programming language to learn first. Feel free to ask your questions in the comment, and we’ll be happy to respond. All the best!