TOP 5 Programming Languages in 2024

Software development field evolves rapidly. Some programming languages, frameworks or technologies may fade away in just a few years after being emerged. It becomes a real task to decide on the programming language for the project implementation.

One of the best ways to determine the most in-demand language for development is by listening to the market.

At S-PRO we use the most innovative technologies for web and mobile development and will be advice on the best languages to apply for any project. Here we'll focus on the top 10 programming languages that make the whole difference in the tech world of 2018.

Just like human languages are remarkable for some characteristics, like French is considered as a language for love, each programming language is used for different purposes with more efficiency. Experienced development teams can always help when choosing the best match for your project. So let's see which languages will be popular in 2018!

1. Javascript

Javascript is recognized as the most popular programming language used by 62,5% of developers worldwide according to the Stack Overflow annual survey. It's no wonder, as there are many JS-based frameworks that developers use both in frontend and backend. It's enough to name just a few: Angular, React, Ember, Backbone for frontend development, and it's impossible to forget about Node.js run-time environment that runs JS on the backend with high efficiency.

If you're looking for the right language for your web project, Javascript would pretty much be used in it. Most of the giants like Facebook, Twitter or Youtube trust Javascript for its ability to create interactive web pages and dynamically display content to users.

It is enough just to pull some strings and make the web page more "alive". For the last several years JS hasn't lost its popularity.

2. Python

Python became a general purpose language due to its exceptional readability and easy to understand the feature. That resulted in an extensive usage today—you can find it almost anywhere: web apps, desktop applications, machine learning, data mining, scientific computing and many more.

Big companies, like Google and NASA, are using it widely.

Django and Flask frameworks are Python-based and are gaining popularity in web development. Python also has good machine learning and data analysis libraries like Scikit-learn and Pandas.

3. Swift

Swift is considered to be an improvement of Objective-C in performance and usability. It is a relatively new language founded in 2014 by Apple. So unsurprisingly, it is used for developing native iOS or Mac OS, tvOS, and watchOS apps.

Being inspired by Python and Ruby, it is extremely easy and fun to use. Which fastens the overall development. With SpriteKit it is easy to build 2D games.

Swift is fast, clean, error-free programming language, in result can save time and money.

4. Java

Java is over 20 years old and still famous. It is used by millions of developers and billions of devices. All Android apps are based on Java. Moreover, over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Java as a server-side language for backend development and video games.

You might have heard of the "write once, run anywhere" philosophy. It is all about Java. It has no boundaries and can be used on all platforms, devices and operating systems due to Java Virtual Machine. It means that Java is highly cross-platform compatible.

Java is so heavily spread that you can be sure that it won't go anywhere and all the systems created with it will be long supported.

5. C/C++

C is an old-school language that still has a significant influence on the programming world. There are so many other languages that were either derived from C or heavily influenced by the C paradigm. Along with its direct extension C++, they both remain to be highly popular languages due to their performance and reliability.

They are widely used for driver, app software, game development, client-server applications, and embedded firmware.

Many big systems were created with these languages, like Microsoft, Oracle, and Adobe.

6. C#

C# is an object-oriented programming language released by Microsoft. Its purpose is to run on Microsoft’s .NET platform and improve development process making it faster and more comfortable.

Just like C++, it is used in 2D and 3D video games development using the Unity game engine that creates one-third of the best games in the world. It is also the best choice when you need to develop a Windows-specific software and applications.

By the way, C# is also applied to creating a cross-platform application in combination with the Xamarin platform. In result, it is possible to deploy apps for Android and iOS platforms simultaneously.

7. Ruby

Some say Ruby is the "best programmer's friend" as it is pretty easy to use. Well-written Ruby code looks very like sentences written in plain English. So it is easy to read if necessary by people not so engaged in the actual programming.

Its well-known Ruby on Rails framework makes up a very powerful tool for web development. Due to its high productivity, it becomes an excellent choice for those who aim at building a startup.

Twitter is a living example of the app built by the Ruby language. It can also be used for the development of all the range of apps from security tools to social sites.

8. PHP

Thanks to Wordpress popularity PHP is widely used for website development by either interacting with MySQL databases or adding functions where HTML can't handle by itself.

There are hundreds of millions of websites built with PHP throughout the web including the most famous ones like Facebook or Wikipedia.

With Laravel and Drupal, frameworks applications can be made faster with more scalability and robustness.

PHP can be used for various web development projects, including content management system, mobile application development, and e-commerce.

9. Rust

Rust is a relatively new language but already gaining more and more popularity. It is released by Mozilla company and extremely loved by developers.

Rust is a compiled language and very often compared to C due to its performance, security and applications. But unlike C where memory errors are not rare, Rust is created to avoid those issues and famous for the memory safe. Moreover, those errors are impossible as they are caught up during compilation before the code even runs.

This language has excellent potential, as such giants like Coursera and Dropbox are starting to use it in their internal projects.

10. SQL

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a highly popular language used for storing, retrieving and manipulating large amounts of records from a database quickly and efficiently. Almost every application contains some SQL code strings.

The very same Stack Overflow uses this programming language.

Should be mentioned, that SQL always goes in a pack with a bunch of other languages, as it closely works with databases only. Technically it is not a programming language as it lacks some of the primary programming functions, but some extensions like PL/SQL can add this functionality.

Best Programming Languages for Software Development: 2024 Rankings Overview

There are 2 main types of programming languages: in-demand languages and those that are not popular yet but make you stand out on the market. Let’s review the ranking of the best programming languages for software development in 2024.

JavaScript

JavaScript (also called the language of the web) is a versatile programming language that can be used for different types of web development: interactive web pages, progressive web apps, and web applications. Also, it’s a great language for server-side development, mobile app development, and game development. 

Python

Python is a simple and beginner-friendly language for web development, data science, artificial intelligence, and automation. Python has a wide choice of libraries that enhance the development process. Also, it has a large community of developers, so rest assured you won’t be left alone and will always find someone to consult with.

Java

Java is a popular programming language for game development. However, you can also use it for cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. One of the benefits of Java programming language is portability, so its code can be easily transferred from desktop to mobile devices.

C#

C# is one of the top programming languages on GitHub. It has such outstanding features as type safety, generics, pattern matching, async, records, and more. Also, it's the most popular programming language for .NET development, so you can create applications that will run on any platform. C# is also similar to Javascript and Java, so if you want to switch from these languages to C# - you’re good to go.

Swift

Swift is a programming language developed by Apple. One of its benefits is speed. Swift runs on a compiler framework LLVM that translates the assembly language to machine code and optimizes it. So, with Swift, you use less code with a faster development time.

Conclusion

Picking the best programming language for your project is crucial as it determines many aspects of development. It incorporates development speed, application quality, development cost, and many other things.

Moreover, choosing the right language depends on the purpose you have, sphere your app will enter, its complexity and user-friendliness and a number of other factors.

It also should offer flexibility for future development and integrity with different platforms. Taking into account that the tendency in programming languages popularity may change over time, the mentioned ones above have a great deal of power to stay popular for the impressive amount of time.

You might feel that it is a lot to take on, that is fine as you have lots of possibilities to ask for professional advice and turn your idea into a popular app using the most innovative programming languages and technologies!