The 10 Most Popular Programming Languages to Learn in 2022

Top 10 Most Popular Programming Languages · 1. Python · 2. JavaScript · 3. Java · 4. C# · 5. C · 6. C++ · 7. Go · 8. R. ReturntoBlogHomepage The10MostPopularProgrammingLanguagestoLearnin2022 ByBrianEastwood  |  June18,2020   IndustryAdvice ComputingandIT ShareonFacebookShareonTwitterShareonLinkedin There’snoquestionthatsoftwareprogrammingisahotcareerrightnow.TheU.S.BureauofLaborStatisticsprojects21percentgrowthforprogrammingjobsfrom2018to2028,whichismorethanfourtimestheaverageforalloccupations.What’smore,themedianannualpayforasoftwareprogrammerisabout$106,000,whichnearlythreetimesthemedianpayforallU.S.workers. Notallprogrammingjobsarethesame,however.Differentroles,companies,andtypesofsoftwarerequireknowingandunderstandingdifferentprogramminglanguages—andit’softenbeneficialtoknowmultiplelanguages.Tryingtobreakintothefieldofsoftwareprogrammingcanbeadauntingexperience,especiallyforprofessionalswithnopriorprogrammingexperience. DownloadOurFreeGuidetoBreakingintoComputerScience Whetheryouhaveatechnicalornon-technicalbackground,here’swhatyouneedtoknow. DOWNLOADNOW TheMasterofScienceinComputerScienceAlignprogramatNortheasternUniversityisspecificallydesignedforstudentswhowanttotransitionintocomputersciencefromanotherfieldofstudy. “Ouraimistotransportstudentsfromavarietyofdifferentbackgroundsandhavethemcomeoutassoftwareengineers,”saysIanGorton,PhDanddirectorofthegraduatecomputerscienceprogramsatNortheasternUniversity—Seattle.“Wefocusonmath,programming,andavarietyofcomputerscienceandengineeringconcepts.” Whetheryou’renewtoprogrammingorlookingtobrushuponyourskills,ithelpstoknowwhichlanguagesareinhighdemand.Hereare10ofthemostpopularprogramminglanguagesof2020basedonthenumberofjobpostingslistedonjobsearchsiteIndeed,theaverageannualsalaryforthosejobs,andfactorssuchaseaseofuseandpotentialforgrowth. Top10MostPopularProgrammingLanguages 1.Python Numberofjobs:19,000 Averageannualsalary:$120,000 Benefits:Pythoniswidelyregardedasaprogramminglanguagethat’seasytolearn,duetoitssimplesyntax,alargelibraryofstandardsandtoolkits,andintegrationwithotherpopularprogramminglanguagessuchasCandC++.Infact,it’sthefirstlanguagethatstudentslearnintheAlignprogram,Gortonsays.“Youcancoveralotofcomputerscienceconceptsquickly,andit’srelativelyeasytobuildon.”Itisapopularprogramminglanguage,especiallyamongstartups,andthereforePythonskillsareinhighdemand. Drawbacks:Pythonisnotsuitableformobileapplicationdevelopment. Commonuses:Pythonisusedinawidevarietyofapplications,includingartificialintelligence,financialservices,anddatascience.SocialmediasitessuchasInstagramandPinterestarealsobuiltonPython. 2.JavaScript Numberofjobs:24,000 Averageannualsalary:$118,000 Benefits:JavaScriptisthemostpopularprogramminglanguageforbuildinginteractivewebsites;“virtuallyeveryoneisusingit,”Gortonsays.WhencombinedwithNode.js,programmerscanuseJavaScripttoproducewebcontentontheserverbeforeapageissenttothebrowser,whichcanbeusedtobuildgamesandcommunicationapplicationsthatrundirectlyinthebrowser.Awidevarietyofadd-onsextendthefunctionalityofJavaScriptaswell.  Drawbacks:InternetbrowserscandisableJavaScriptcodefromrunning,asJavaScriptisusedtocodepop-upadsthatinsomecasescancontainmaliciouscontent.  Commonuses:JavaScriptisusedextensivelyinwebsiteandmobileapplicationdevelopment.Node.jsallowsforthedevelopmentofbrowser-basedapplications,whichdonotrequireuserstodownloadanapplication. 3.Java Numberofjobs:29,000 Averageannualsalary:$104,000 Benefits:Javaistheprogramminglanguagemostcommonlyassociatedwiththedevelopmentofclient-serverapplications,whichareusedbylargebusinessesaroundtheworld.Javaisdesignedtobealooselycoupledprogramminglanguage,meaningthatanapplicationwritteninJavacanrunonanyplatformthatsupportsJava.Asaresult,Javaisdescribedasthe“writeonce,runanywhere”programminglanguage. Drawbacks:Javaisnotidealforapplicationsthatrunonthecloud,asopposedtotheserver(whichiscommonforbusinessapplications).Inaddition,thesoftwarecompanyOracle,whichownsJava,chargesalicensingfeetousetheJavaDevelopmentKit. Commonuses:Alongwithbusinessapplications,JavaisusedextensivelyintheAndroidmobileoperatingsystem. 4.C# Numberofjobs:18,000 Averageannualsalary:$97,000 Benefits:MicrosoftdevelopedC#asafasterandmoresecurevariantofC.ItisfullyintegratedwithMicrosoft’s.NETsoftwareframework,whichsupportsthedevelopmentofapplicationsforWindows,browserplug-ins,andmobiledevices.C#offerssharedcodebases,alargecodelibrary,andavarietyofdatatypes. Drawbacks:C#canhaveasteeplearningcurve,especiallyforresolvingerrors.ItislessflexiblethanlanguagessuchasC++.  Commonuses:C#isthego-tolanguageforMicrosoftadWindowsapplicationdevelopment.Itcanalsobeusedformobiledevicesandvideogameconsolesusinganextensionofthe.NETFrameworkcalledMono. 5.C Numberofjobs:8,000 Averageannualsalary:$97,000 Benefits:AlongwithPythonandJava,Cformsa“goodfoundation”forlearninghowtoprogram,Gortonsays.Asoneofthefirstprogramminglanguageseverdeveloped,ChasservedasthefoundationforwritingmoremodernlanguagessuchasPython,Ruby,andPHP.Itisalsoaneasylanguagetodebug,test,andmaintain. Drawbacks:Sinceit’sanolderprogramminglanguage,Cisnotsuitableformoremodernusecasessuchaswebsitesormobileapplications.Calsohasacomplexsyntaxascomparedtomoremodernlanguages. Commonuses:Becauseitcanrunonanytypeofdevice,Cisoftenusedtoprogramhardware,suchasembeddeddevicesinautomobilesandmedicaldevicesusedinhealthcare.  6.C++ Numberofjobs:9,000 Averageannualsalary:$97,000 Benefits:C++isanextensionofCthatworkswellforprogrammingthesystemsthatrunapplications,asopposedtotheapplicationsthemselves.C++alsoworkswellformulti-deviceandmulti-platformsystems.Overtime,programmershavewrittenalargesetoflibrariesandcompilersforC++.Beingabletousetheseutilitieseffectivelyisjustasimportanttounderstandingaprogramminglanguageaswritingcode,Gortonsays. Drawbacks:LikeC,C++hascomplexsyntaxandanabundanceoffeaturesthatcanmakeitcomplicatedfornewprogrammers.C++alsodoesnotsupportrun-timechecking,whichisamethodofdetectingerrorsordefectswhilesoftwareisrunning.  Commonuses:C++hasmanyusesandisthelanguagebehindeverythingfromcomputergamestomathematicalsimulations. 7.Go Numberofjobs:1,700 Averageannualsalary:$93,000 Benefits:AlsoreferredtoasGolang,GowasdevelopedbyGoogletobeanefficient,readable,andsecurelanguageforsystem-levelprogramming.Itworkswellfordistributedsystems,inwhichsystemsarelocatedondifferentnetworksandneedtocommunicatebysendingmessagestoeachother.Whileitisarelativelynewlanguage,Gohasalargestandardslibraryandextensivedocumentation. Drawbacks:GohasnotgainedwidespreaduseoutsideofSiliconValley.Godoesnotincludealibraryforgraphicaluserinterfaces,whicharethemostcommonwaysthatend-usersinteractwithanydevicethathasascreen. Commonuses:Goisusedprimarilyforapplicationsthatneedtoprocessalotofdata.InadditiontoGoogle,companiesusingGoforcertainapplicationsincludeNetflix,Twitch,andUber. 8.R Numberofjobs:1,500 Averageannualsalary:$93,000 Benefits:Risheavilyusedinstatisticalanalyticsandmachinelearningapplications.Thelanguageisextensibleandrunsonmanyoperatingsystems.ManylargecompanieshaveadoptedRinordertoanalyzetheirmassivedatasets,soprogrammerswhoknowRareingreatdemand.  Drawbacks:Rdoesnothavethestrictprogrammingguidelinesofolderandmoreestablishedlanguages.  Commonuses:Risprimarilyusedinstatisticalsoftwareproducts.  9.Swift Numberofjobs:1,800 Averageannualsalary:$93,000  Benefits:SwiftisApple’slanguagefordevelopingapplicationsforMaccomputersandApple’smobiledevices,includingtheiPhone,iPad,andAppleWatch.Likemanymodernprogramminglanguages,Swifthasahighlyreadablesyntax,runscodequickly,andcanbeusedforbothclient-sideandserver-sidedevelopment.  Drawbacks:SwiftcanonlybeusedonnewerversionsofiOS7andwillnotworkwitholderapplications.Asanewerprogramminglanguage,thecodecanbeunstableattimes,andtherearefewerthird-partyresourcesavailabletoprogrammers. Commonuses:SwiftisusedforiOSandmacOSapplications.  10.PHP Numberofjobs:7,000 Averageannualsalary:$81,000 Benefits:PHPiswidelyusedforserver-sidewebdevelopment,whenawebsitefrequentlyrequestsinformationfromaserver.Asanolderlanguage,PHPbenefitsfromalargeecosystemofuserswhohaveproducedframeworks,libraries,andautomationtoolstomaketheprogramminglanguageeasiertouse.PHPcodeisalsoeasytodebug. Drawbacks:AsPythonandJavaScripthavegainedpopularity,PHP’spopularityhasdropped.PHPisalsoknownforitssecurityvulnerabilities.AccordingtoIndeed,mostPHPprogrammerstakeshort-termrolesthatlastlessthanoneyear. Commonuses:PHPisthecoderunningcontent-orientedwebsitessuchasFacebook,WordPress,andWikipedia.  7OtherProgrammingLanguagestoConsider Thefollowingprogramminglanguagesaren’tquiteaspopularasthe10listedabove,buttheyarealsoworthconsideringifyou’relookingtoexpandyourprogrammingoptions. Dartisoptimalforprogrammingapplicationsthatneedtorunonmultipleplatforms,suchasWindowsandiOS.  KotlinisusedtodevelopapplicationsfortheAndroidOS.  MATLABisaproprietarylanguagedevelopedbyMathWorksandusedforscientificresearchandnumericalcomputing.  Perlgotitsstartforprogrammingtext,whichmakesiteasytolearnandpopularfordevelopingaproofofconcept.  Rubyislosingtractionascomparedtootherlanguages,buttheRubyonRailsframeworkwasinfluentialtoother,laterWebapplicationframeworksforPython,PHP,andJavaScript. Rustemphasizeshighperformanceandsecurityandisusefulforapplicationswheremanythingsarehappeningconcurrently. Scala,namedasaplayonscalablelanguage,iscompatiblewithJavaandisusefulforcloud-basedapplications.  WhichProgrammingLanguageShouldYouLearn? Someprogrammersareabletobuildacareeroutofbeinganexpertinonelanguage,butmanyprogrammerslearnnewlanguagesfrequently,Gortonsays.It’snotuncommonforaprofessionalprogrammertobefluentinthreeorfourdifferentlanguages,headds. Thetypeofsoftwareyouwanttodevelopisoneconsiderationforwhichprogramminglanguagestolearn.Whiletherearenoconcreterulesforwhatlanguageisusedtowritewhatsoftware,afewtrendsoffersomeguidance:  Web-basedstartupsaremorelikelytobeprogramminginPythonandJavaScript. LargercompaniestendtodeveloptheirinternalsoftwareapplicationsusingC#orJavaandtheirWebapplicationsusingPHP. ProgramsfordataanalyticstypicallyusetheRandMATLABprogramminglanguages. Embeddeddevices,suchasthoseintheautomotiveandhealthcareindustries,runsoftwarewritteninC,C++,orRust. ApplicationsthatrunonthecloudareincreasinglywritteninGoorScala.   MobileapplicationsareincreasinglywritteninSwiftorKotlin. Ifyou’relookingtostartacareerinprogramming,theMasterofScienceinComputerScienceAlignprogramatNortheasterncanhelpyoudevelopexpertiseandfluencywiththepopularprogramminglanguagesthatalignwithyourskillsandinterests. AboutBrianEastwood BrianEastwoodisafreelancewriterwithmorethan15yearsofexperienceasajournalist.Inhiscareer,hehascoveredsmall-townpolitics,enterpriseinformationtechnology,leadershipstrategy,andavarietyofhealthcaretopics. RelatedArticles WhatIsHuman-ComputerInteraction? IsaMaster’sinComputerScienceWorththeInvestment? HowtoBecomeaRoboticsEngineer DidYouKnow? Computerscienceprofessionalsseeanaverage$30,000salaryincreaseafterearningamaster'sdegree.(GeorgetownCenteronEducation) MasterofScienceinComputerScience Everycompanyneedscomputerscientists.Launchyourcareertoday. 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