What are the top programming languages to learn in 2021?
We spoke to developers and industry experts, analyzed job trends on Glassdoor, Indeed, AngelList & CareerBuilder, and then ranked the top 20 based on our findings. Here’s what you need to know (click above for more)…
On May 19th 2014 Stack Overflow released an update of their recent developer survey with some very interesting results which made us think about the future of programming. They found that since their last survey 5 years ago, Python was now the most popular language among developers, followed by JavaScript and then Java.
We also looked at some additional factors to consider when looking for a new technology to learn. For example, what are companies looking for? We found that big companies like Google, Apple and Facebook prefer more established languages such as Java or C++. However start-ups are looking for new technologies that will help them stand out from the crowd.
Here is a list of the top 20 programming languages to learn in 2021 according to Metaprogramming Heuristics , where we rank each language based on a proprietary formula that takes into account job trends, growth rate of Stack Overflow questions and average salaries from Glassdoor, Indeed and AngelList.
JavaScript Python Ruby C++ PHP C# Objective-C Swift CSS HTML5 Java Clojure Perl Scala Go Haskell Kotlin Groovy Visual Basic
Why you should learn programming? Here are some of the top reasons from our survey:
Make more money ( 26% ) Build your own apps / websites ( 24% ) Find a new job ( 13% ) Change career ( 9% ) Learn something new ( 3% ) Solve problems you’re facing at work / home ( 3% %) Express yourself better or faster than words can say it. For example You had a great idea but no way to communicate it. ( 2% )
Javascript, Python and Ruby are the top three languages that developers want to learn next. They’re all general purpose programming languages which means they can be used in a wide variety of use cases such as back-end web development, front-end user interface design and building mobile applications for iOS or Android.
Why Javascript? At the moment there is no other language that has such a strong presence across the different platforms: the browser, mobile and server side with Node js . It’s also very well known by companies like Google and Facebook who tend to attract developers who are passionate about Javascript because of its vastness. Btw if you need some material to start learning Javascript here are some resources to check out .
Why Python? As mentioned before, it’s now the most popular language according to Stack Overflow. We also like the fact that it covers many areas such as web development (Django framework), data science (SciPy library), system automation (Python scripts) and much more. One of its main strengths is that it can be easily integrated with multiple databases which is something that a lot of new technologies are trying to achieve. For example , if you’re using MySQL then you can use SQLAlchemy, a Python tool for working with databases, or PyMongo for MongoDB, etc.
Why Ruby? Rails made Ruby popular because at the time there was no other language which allowed programmers to build web applications as quickly as Ruby on Rails. It’s also a very elegant programming language which is easy to learn and understand even if you’re not a full-time developer. This post from CareerFoundry highlights some alternatives for those who want to learn something new after they master the basics of programming .
Why C++? When companies look for developers, it’s mostly about 3 skills: problem solving , algorithm development and data structures . We all know that C++ was first created by Bjarne Stroustrup back in 1983 but it still remains one of the most powerful languages with many benefits such as fast compilation time, static type checking, direct memory access and more.
In recent years we have seen an explosion of different languages and technologies, which is why it can be hard to choose the right one for your future career. For that reason we put together a free email course that will help you take the first step in your programming journey while explaining how different languages are used across different companies and industries .
Why C#? It’s an object-oriented language designed for creating applications on Microsoft platforms, especially Windows. If you already know other Microsoft tools such as Visual Studio or ASP.NET then you should definitely consider learning C# because it’s easy to learn and has many other benefits like support from large companies like Google. Google uses C# to improve search results , Yahoo! also uses it extensively, while Stack Overflow recently implemented an entire site written in this language .
Why Scala? It’s got many great features such as functional programming, type inference and immutability. Type inference means that you can declare variables without explicitly assigning a data type. This makes it easy to modify your code because the compiler is able to detect errors automatically during compilation time. Another great feature is that it compiles into Java bytecode which means that you can easily interface Scala with any other Java library or framework thanks to interoperability .
Why Go? It’s an open source language created by Google in 2007 which initially focused on building simple tools for large-scale projects . One of its most notable benefits is garbage collection which saves developers from having to manually manage memory allocation and deallocation. The syntax itself is very similar to that of C which means that it’s easy to learn if you’re already familiar with other similar languages like Java, C# or JavaScript.
Why Javas? If you’re looking for a language which is easy to start with and provides quick feedback then this is the perfect choice . The best thing about it is that there are so many free resources out there in addition to paid ones. For example , Mattan Griffel has an amazing course on One Month Rails which teaches web development using Ruby on Rails while focusing on programming fundamentals such as HTML, CSS, Bootstrap and Git.
The trend for 2017 seems to be focusing more on backend development instead of frontend because time spent in mobile apps by users decreases every year due to competition and saturation in the market. It’s not that frontend development is going to disappear but it will require more effort on your part if you want to switch to this direction.
Points To Remember
The above list is not exhaustive but it’s a good place for beginners who want to improve their knowledge in the programming world. You should never stop learning because that’s what will help you grow as a developer in the future.
