You’ve decided to learn to code. You’ve made a commitment to learning the industry standard, but you’re not sure where to start. Your first thought is probably “how do I decide which language is best for me?” Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer here since everyone learns differently and has different preferences when it comes to programming languages. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you make an informed decision about which language will be right for your unique situation. Here are some of the most common questions we hear from new coders:
Python
Python is a general-purpose programming language that can be used in many different fields. It’s one of the most popular languages in the world, used by big companies like Google and NASA.
In fields like data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and natural language processing (NLP), Python has become a go-to choice for developers due to its flexibility and ability to scale with your problem.
Java
Java is a general-purpose programming language that’s used to build client-side and server applications. Java was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. It’s now maintained by Oracle Corporation and available on all major platforms, including Linux, macOS, Windows and Solaris.
Java has several advantages over C++:
- Java has a simpler syntax than C++, making it easier for beginners to learn.
- The virtual machine that runs Java code can detect many errors before the application executes (for example, if you pass an array index as an integer). This helps reduce runtime errors caused by poor quality code.
C++
C++ is a general-purpose programming language, originally designed in the early 1980s by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs. It was initially developed to be used for writing system software and application programs, but has grown in importance to become one of the most popular programming languages for all types of software development.
C++ is used in many applications and industries, including games (such as Minecraft), embedded systems (especially mobile phones), web applications and scientific computing.
C#.NET
C#.NET is a programming language that was developed by Microsoft in 2000. It is an object-oriented programming language, and it is a statically typed language with type inference.
TypeScript/JavaScript
TypeScript is a superset of the JavaScript programming language and adds optional static typing. It allows developers to use existing JavaScript libraries, but also uses its own compiler to produce code for consumption by other languages. This makes it easy for developers who know TypeScript to create applications or libraries that can be used in any environment where JavaScript is supported, whether that’s in a browser or on the server.
TypeScript supports some features found in strongly-typed programming languages like Java, such as classes and interfaces with inheritance enabled by default (in contrast with vanilla JavaScript). TypeScript also includes other features from more dynamic languages such as Dart or Flow which enable type-checking at compile time by analyzing type annotations without actually executing them

R
R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It was created in 1993 by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, under the name “S”. The R project is currently maintained by the R Core Team with contributions from thousands of programmers worldwide.
R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis etc.) and graphical techniques, many of which are implemented using an extensive class framework. The R language is easily extensible through user creation of packages, whereas many other software environments limit users to pre-defined libraries.
R has become especially popular among statisticians because it allows them to write code once then run it on various types of computers without having to rewrite their programs every time they get a new computer.
PHP
PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for web development, but also used as a general-purpose programming language.
It is widely-used because it is easy to learn and deploy, which makes PHP particularly useful for entrepreneurs who are looking to get their websites up and running quickly.
Swift
Swift is a general-purpose programming language developed by Apple Inc. It was announced in 2014 and released the following year, with its latest version being Swift 5.0, which was launched in late 2018.
It can be used to develop iOS apps on Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices as well as macOS apps for Mac computers (e.g., those manufactured by Apple). For these platforms, it’s the primary programming language that developers use to build apps for them.
Swift has other uses too: You can use it to build server-side web applications or command-line programs running on Linux computers (which is possible with almost any programming language).
Swift has many features borrowed from other popular languages such as C# and Rust, but it also features some unique advantages of its own—for instance, it offers strong typing without requiring you to specify what type your variables are at compile time; this makes working with values easier than before if you’re new to Swift or haven’t used another similar object-oriented language before getting started!
Go
Go is a general-purpose language with a wide range of uses. It was designed to be a systems programming language, but it also has great support for web and other server-side development. One of the advantages of Go code is that it is statically typed and compiled, which means that you won’t have to worry about bugs introduced by bad data types or unexpected runtime behavior.
Go includes an open source community and garbage collection, which makes it easier for you to write good code without worrying about memory leaks or other issues related to memory handling.
Ruby
Ruby is a dynamic, interpreted, reflective, object-oriented, general-purpose programming language. It was created by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto in Japan in 1995. Ruby is a high-level language that is used to create web applications.
Kotlin
Kotlin is a statically typed programming language for the Java Virtual Machine and also can be compiled to JavaScript source code. Kotlin was created by the JetBrains team to improve upon Java and offer an alternative to other languages like C++, Scala and Groovy.
To date, it’s one of the fastest-growing programming languages in terms of usage. The IDE support for Kotlin has been steadily improving throughout its existence, with plugins available for IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio 3+ (WebStorm) and some others coming soon.
Python and Java are the most popular programming languages in industry today.
As you may have guessed, the two most popular programming languages today are Python and Java.
- Python is a general-purpose programming language that has been around since 1991 and is used heavily in artificial intelligence as well as data science.
- Java, which was first developed in 1995, is also used frequently for AI applications but has more widespread use than just those fields; it’s used in gaming, mobile apps and software development.
Top 24 Web Programming Languages Ranked by IEEE Spectrum
You might want to take a look at the list by IEEE Spectrum which ranked 24 programming languages by various metrics:
- Python 100/100
- Java
- JavaScript
- Go
- Ruby
- Dart
- PHP
- Scala
- HTML
- Kotlin
- Rust
- Processing
- C#
- Delphi
- Perl
- Elixir
- F#
- Lua
- Apache Groovy
- Haskell
- Clojure
- Ocaml
- CoffeeScript
- Racket 0/100
Conclusion
Hope you found this list of the most popular programming languages in industry today helpful. As we mentioned earlier, this is a rapidly changing landscape, so don’t be afraid to experiment with new languages and technologies if they can make your life easier! Thanks for reading.
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