Introduction
Python has overtaken the once-dominant Java to become the second-most popular programming language after C for the first time according to TIOBE latest Index. For years, C and Java have topped the Index as the most popular languages.
Python also came second after JavaScript in RedMonk’s programming-language popularity rankings. The same pattern repeated itself on the open-source code-sharing site GitHub where Python came second only to JavaScript.
Why is Python soaring to popularity? For the developer community, it’s important to want to know what programming languages top the trends. You get to know which language is suitable for your job or project at hand. Plus, who wants to be left behind when it comes to knowing what’s hot and trendy in the industry?
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To learn about the Top Ten Programming Languages- Read this article
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In this guide, we have done an in-depth analysis of the top programming languages rankings that we think are worth your attention as a developer. We first take you through the latest results of authoritative and popular indexes for evaluating the popularity of a language as well as the top 10 most popular programming language rankings. Later on, we describe the best programming languages for a few specific tasks in the industry.
Programming Languages Ranking
You are probably aware of the many indexes that are used to determine the popularity of a programming language. We’ll focus on several of the most authoritative programming languages rankings — Stack Overflow Developer Survey, Tiobe, PYPL, and Github.
Let’s get started!
The popularity of Programming Language ( PYPL) Ranking 2020
PYPL measures how often programming language tutorials are googled by reviewing Google Trends. PYPL can help you make a choice on which language to study, or which one to use in a new project in your company.
Below are the results for the top 10 programming languages ranking according to the PYPL 2020.
TIOBE Popularity Ranking 2020
The TIOBE index measures the number of times a language appears in a search query on a search engine. According to its authors, the index doesn’t reflect the best programming language but only claims to rank a language according to webpages reflecting the number of skilled developers, courses, and jobs worldwide. About 25 search engines are used to calculate TIOBE index which is updated monthly.
Below are the results for the top 10 programming languages ranking according to the most recent TIOBE Index.
Here is the full read on the Top Ten Programming Languages in 2020!
Github
GitHub is one of the biggest code repositories that boasts a massive developer community spanning across the globe. The repository is also growing at a blazing speed. Nearly 70% of global fortune 50 companies have lately made contributions to Github’s open-source codes.
Github also shares a yearly review of programming languages' popularity. Here are the top 10 programming languages ranking according to the latest Github report.
Stack Overflow Developer Survey
Stack Overflow is a large and trusted developer community where programmers learn and share their programming knowledge. Every year, programmers from all over the world take the Stack Overflow’s Developer survey where they share about the programming languages they use, how they learn, which tools they’re using, and if they’re interested in continuing to develop with them or not.
Survey results are always exciting and interesting since they change with every new year. This year’s survey was conducted before the COVID-19 global pandemic by approximately 65,000 developers from 186 countries.
In the section below, we look at specific programming languages ranking according to the latest Stack Overflow Survey 2020. This is where things get exciting.
The Most Commonly Used Programming Language
Unsurprisingly, JavaScript takes the crown as the most commonly used programming language in the survey for the eighth year in a row.
JavaScript is one of the fast-growing programming languages. Since it’s supported by all modern browsers, it’s easy to see the reason behind its growth. For the developer community, it is one of the coolest choices you can make when you want to develop interactive web interfaces.
We have covered the main reasons why JavaScript is popular and the most commonly used programming language in the sections below. So read on.
The Most Wanted Programming Language
When it comes to the most wanted programming language, Python takes the first position — the fourth time in a row. Not surprising, right? Even developers who don’t already use it want to learn Python.
We discuss the reasons Python features as the most wanted programming language and the reason it is exponentially growing popular later on in the article.
The Most Loved Programming Languages
For the last five years, Rust was voted as the most loved programming language by 86% of developers who took the survey. TypeScript took position two with 67.1% while Python came third after garnering 66.7% of the votes. Kotlin and Go came fourth and fifth with 62.9 % and 62.3 % votes respectively.
According to the survey, the reason Rust is the most loved language is because it “solves pain points present in many other languages, providing a solid step forward with a limited number of downsides.”
As for TypeScript, Stack Overflow says the reason it’s pulling so much ahead is because of Microsoft’s change of direction to embrace it as open source. Kotlin’s popularity and fast growth could be a result of the fact that Google made it the desired language for Android development. Go is getting popular and loved by developers mostly because of its fantastic performance, static typing, super-fast compilation, minimalism, standard library, and much more.
Programming Languages Difficulty Ranking
The survey also included the most dreaded programming languages because they are difficult to learn and understand. Languages that fall under the programming languages difficulty ranking include VBA (80.4%), Objective C (76.6%), Perl (71.4%), Assembly (70.6 %), and C (66.9%). While developers are still using them, they did not express any interest in using the languages in the future.
One of the main reasons why developers dread these languages is that they are ranked as the most difficult to learn since their syntax is complex and hard to read.
Top 5 Most Popular Programming Languages
From the rankings, programming languages are continuously changing and evolving spurred by the changing demands in the industry. We have seen the fastest growing languages and most influential languages. In this section, we cover the top 10 most popular programming language rankings.
Of course, all of these insights are up for debate, but they are worth considering if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
JavaScript
JavaScript is the world’s most in-demand programming language. According to Web Technology Surveys, JavaScript is currently used by 97% of websites. The popular scripting language can be used both on the server-side and client-side to make interactive web pages and is, therefore, one of the best programming languages for web development. Not only that it is also one of the best programming languages for mobile app development.
It provides developers with numerous frameworks and libraries that they can import into their code to augment application functionality and flexibility. JavaScript also allows stress-free integration with third-party apps. It’s no wonder the developer community is increasingly falling in love with JavaScript and using it for web, server, as well as IoT applications.
Popular apps built with JavaScript frameworks include Slack, NetFlix, GitHub, Facebook, Skype, Uber, LinkedIn, Tidal, and more.
Release year: March 1996
User base: 12.2M developers
Features: Lightweight, Platform independent, Client-edge technology, Object-oriented,
Applications: Front-end development, Back-end development, Mobile development, Browser game development, server applications, IoT, Embedded Scripting
Python
Every year in surveys of the world’s most popular and most commonly used programming languages, Python comes out among the top. Its use is now global and it has been marked as the fastest-growing language.
The language is powerfully designed yet simple to write and read — just like everyday English. It’s therefore user-friendly and easy to learn and the developer community can use it for just about anything. It comprises a rich set of libraries and frameworks for a wide range of purposes including web applications, data analysis, systems programming, machine learning, deep learning, etc.
Python is one of the official languages in use by Google! Other Tech Giants using Python include Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Mozilla, Reddit, Microsoft, and more. The other cool thing about Python is that it has been in the market for a long time and has a huge developer community and support forums.
Release year: February 1991
User base: 8.4M developers
Features: Open-Source, Easy to use, Portability, Object-oriented,
Applications: Web development, software development, scientific computing, Fintech, Data science, machine learning, game development, IoT, Startups
Java
If you are wondering whether Java is still as popular, the answer is yes. For decades, it’s been a popular programming language and is still a top choice for many companies and developers.
Despite the fact that it has been surpassed by Python, Java remains practical, stable, consistent, and useful for developers to create many kinds of applications. Its syntax is also close to English which makes it easy to learn, understand, and write compared to other less straightforward programming languages.
Large corporations including Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Spotify, Airbnb, and more use Java. Given its stability, updates, ease of use, and large community of developers, Java will continue to be a top popular programming language.
Release year: May 1995
User base: 8.2M developers
Features: Object-oriented, open-source, robust, secure, high performance, automatic memory management
Applications: Android app development, Embedded coding, server-side projects, web applications, IoT, Desktop Applications, Game development
jQuery
According to W3Techs, jQuery is used by more than 74% of the top 10 million websites as of February 2020. An open-source JavaScript library that’s primarily used for DOM manipulation. jQuery is the simplest way to add powerful Javascript features to your apps.
It’s simple syntax is designed to make it easier to select DOM elements, handle events, navigate documents, create effects and animations, and Ajax applications with cross-browser support. jQuery also provides capabilities for programmers to create plug-ins on top of the JavaScript library.
On the Stack Overflow survey, it topped the list of the most popular web frameworks. However, it’s quickly losing position to React.js and Angular.
Release year: August 2006
Features: Free, Open-Source, Fast, Light-weight, Versatile, Easy to use, large user-base, extensible, ease of integration,
Applications: HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animations, Ajax applications, cross-browser support
Ruby
With a place as one of the best programming languages for web development, Ruby is slowly but surely growing in popularity. It is regularly developed with a lot of loyal supporters who use it to build impressive web applications.
Ruby on Rails, its most popular framework provides great flexibility, simplicity, security, and a short development period for programmers. It also features functionality for dynamic typing, object-oriented, mix-ins, method names, duck typing, singleton methods, automatic garbage collection, etc.
Syntax-wise, it’s fun, easy, and comfortable to write. Popular web applications developed using Ruby include AirBnB, Github, Twitter, Shopify, Slide Share, Fiverr, Hulu, BaseCamp, and more. Ruby has a very promising future and is a good choice for developing your product.
Release year: December 1996
User base: 1.8 M developers
Features: Object-oriented, flexible, simple, garbage collection, web servers, secure
Applications: Web development, function programming, data analysis, prototyping
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