Top Programming Languages Used by Startups
What’s the best programming language? I don’t believe that there is any. Every language was created for specific purposes. But what should you learn or use in your startup? In big corporations, the team responsible for new products must analyze why they chose a specific language. There are a lot of questions that you have to answer before selecting the language. What do you plan to develop? Web or desktop or mobile app? How many engineers use this language? How much money are you ready to spend on salaries? Etc.
Here I’ve accumulated information about the programming languages that can help you better understand more about them, especially if you’re a non-technical co-founder.
Firstly, I would like to start with Popularity Indexes or popular surveys.
TIOBE Index for August 2022
TIOBE Programming Community index is an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the number of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, and third-party vendors. Popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube, and Baidu are used to calculate the ratings. It is important to note that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.
PYPL Index
PYPL — Popularity of Programming Language is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google. The more a language tutorial is searched, the more popular the language is assumed to be, and it is a leading indicator. The raw data comes from Google Trends.
Stack Overflow Survey
Stack Overflow Survey represents the data that was collected in May 2021. Over 80,000 respondents shared information on how they learn and level up, which tools they’re using, and even how much they were paid. In relation to programming languages, the global community of developers sticks to its habits. JavaScript completed its ninth year in a row as the most commonly used programming language. For most developers, programming is web programming. Python traded places with SQL to become the third most popular language.
Fun fact: the most paid languages are the less popular:
Top 5 programming languages in startups
1. Python
At the top of our list is Python. It is an object-oriented, flexible, general-purpose programming language created 30 years ago by Guido van Rossum. Python is used to develop applications such as Instagram, Pinterest, Disqus, Uber, Reddit, Dropbox, Spotify, Google Search, Youtube, and many more. It is also the most popular language for Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers.
Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It is an open-source tool with 46.9K GitHub stars and 23.9K GitHub forks. The language is easy to learn for beginners because of its readability and English-like scripts with simple syntax. It is a free, open-source programming language with extensive support modules and community development; it easily integrates with web services and has user-friendly data structures. BuiltWith claims around 239,549 live websites are using Python. The global Stack Overflow survey I cited above reports that Python is the 3rd most used programming language with 48.24% votes.
High speed in launching products is essential nowadays. Python’s shortcode helps new businesses build their minimum viable product (MVP) to engage investors as soon as possible.
Also, Python provides a vast community. At StackShare it has about 155K followers, and 169K developers affirm that they are using Python. There are several Python discussion forums and communities that answer newbies’ queries; if you have a problem, more likely, that it has already been solved and published.
2. Ruby
Ruby is often the language of choice for getting a startup off the ground. It can be used to build a vast array of products, particularly web applications. It’s also known to be an appealing language for developers of all skill levels — and makes for a hassle-free development experience. Ruby was made public in 1995 by Japanese computer scientist Yukihiro Matsumoto.
Ruby on Rails, the framework for which Ruby itself is best known, has gained extraordinary popularity as it augments the Ruby development process.
The language is ideal for web projects of varying complexity, including for MVPs. And because it’s scalable and leads to a fast project turnaround, it’s perfect for launching a startup.
Airbnb, Yellow Pages, Basecamp, Twitter, Shopify, Github, Groupon, and Ask.fm are the tech giants that started their startup journeys with the programming language ‘Ruby’ and the Ruby framework ‘Rails.’
As well as Python, Ruby is used by startups because of its high speed to market.
3. JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that was launched in 1995. This open-source, dynamic, object-based programming language is used for front and backend development projects.
Because of its lightweight coding and other properties, Stack Overflow Survey ranks it on the top of the most popular technologies from the last 9 years.
LinkedIn, Netflix, Facebook, and PayPal are notable companies with dependencies on JavaScript for distinct operations.
Development with JavaScript is widely used because it works with short code and provides enormous libraries and third-party tools. Its open-source ecosystem also enables coders to get the benefits of different resources to enhance the development speed of projects.
Hiring a developer is a challenging task for startups. But if they go with JS language and frameworks, they will find more talented applicants. Even startups can hire full-stack developers because it is easy to build both the client and backend applications with JS.
JavaScript became one of the top startup programming languages and the first programming language for developing full-stack applications. It also allows you to build both front-end and backend applications.
4. Java
Java is an easy-to-maintain, high-level, portable, and class-based programming language that startups can use. As an old programming language, it has a big community and is a popular choice of modern app developers. Mainly, Java is one of the finest names for building web applications.
James Goslings initially published Java in 1995. It is one of the most mature scripting languages that is still popular among users. Its built-in features, IDEs, and rich APIs also keep it alive in the coding world.
The best thing about choosing Java as the leading startup language is its community support. Finding active and seasoned Java experts on Stack Overflow, Reddit, and Oracle platforms is seamless.
Java would probably have been at the top of our list just a few years ago, and it was the language of the year in 2005 and 2015. However, the popularity of this well-known language is declining year after year, as is evident in the TIOBE INDEX.
In addition, Java is still a stable language that many large corporations support. It is used by companies such as NASA, Netflix, Spotify, LinkedIn, Uber, Vox Media, Google, Slack, Amazon, and many more.. Also, almost every banking solution is built via Java.
This programming language is now used in mobile applications, web development, and even Big Data. It is the primary programming language for Android devices, so its demand will still be high. Today it is still the 5th most popular technology according to Stack Overflow.
5. Swift
It is an excellent choice for server-side coding of mobile apps. If you are looking for an Objective-C alternative, then you should consider using Swift. It is an advanced programming language that was developed in 2014 to work with Apple’s frameworks.
This programming language could be used for various app development projects, including mobile and desktop applications, cloud services, and system software.
The major companies that are utilizing Swift for their projects are Apple, CRED, Walmart, Slack, and DoorDash.
Programmers don’t need to write plenty of scripts to build an app with Swift. Its simple syntax and short code allow startups to improve their time to market.
Swift is here because all startups need mobile apps nowadays. So if you’re looking to get a mobile developer job in a startup or hire to create a developer for your mobile app, Swift may be a great choice. As the best programming language for startups 2020, it’s just fine for iOS native development.
Swift is Apple’s programming language. With it, you may create apps for iPhones and iPad. It is safe and reliable. Besides, since iOS developers are rarer and are still learning, there’s a chance to hire a real prodigy which is harder to do in terms of Android programmers because they’re the majority.
Anyway, you have to understand that the choice depends on your product, not only popularity or salaries or startups built via certain technologies.
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