Top Programming Languages to Learn in 2018

Staying on top is one of the key factors for business and technological innovation. And with over 600 unique programming languages, deciding on the best programming language for your project may be difficult, and can be the hardest part in the initial development phase.

And to help, here’s our list of the top  potential programming languages to learn in 2018, to help decide the best programming language to use for your project is to evaluate your project needs.

1. Java

Java decreased in popularity by about 6,000 job postings in 2018 compared to 2017, but is still extremely well-established. Java is over 20 years old, used by millions of developers and billions of devices worldwide, and able to run on any hardware and operating system through the Java Virtual Machine. All Android apps are based on Java and 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Java as a server-side language for backend development. Java Enterprise Edition 8 and Java 9 both launched in September 2017 as the Eclipse Foundation took over managing Java EE from Oracle.

2. Python

Python grew in popularity by about 5,000 job postings over 2017. It is a general-purpose programming language used for web development and as a support language for software developers. It’s also widely used in scientific computing, data mining and machine learning. The continued growth and demand for machine learning developers may be driving the popularity of Python.

3. JavaScript

JavaScript, the grandfather of programming languages, is roughly as popular today as it was in our last blog post. That’s no surprise to us – JavaScript is used by over 80% of developersand by 95% of all websites for any dynamic logic on their pages. Several front-end frameworks for JavaScript such as React and AngularJS have huge future potential as IoT and mobile devices become more popular, so we doubt we’ll see JavaScript drop in popularity anytime soon.

4. C++

C++ changed very little in popularity from early 2017 to now. An extension of the old-school “C” programming language, C++ is usually used for system/application software, game development, drivers, client-server applications and embedded firmware. Many programmers find C++ complex and more difficult to learn and use than languages like Python or JavaScript, but it remains in use in many legacy systems at large enterprises.

Other Technologies Developers Should Know

These software frameworks or technologies aren’t technically programming languages, but are still important for developers to know in 2018 and are commonly advertised technical skills for developers found on Indeed.

• SQL: SQL is the standard query language for storing, retrieving and manipulating data in databases. It’s not technically a programming language since it lacks looping and other basic functions, but extensions like PL/SQL have added some of these. SQL is in extremely high job demand, with over 30,000 more job postings mentioning it than our top programing language, Java. If you only have time to learn one new technology in 2018, this is the one to pick.
• .NET: .NET is Microsoft’s platform for desktop, web, mobile, gaming and IoT app development. It was made open-source in 2016 and is used by the C#, Visual Basic and F# programming languages. .NET Core, a cross platform .NET implementation, extends .NET to iOS, Linux, and Android. Many Windows applications run on .NET, making it extremely prevalent in the business world and we expect it to become more popular now that it’s become open-source.
• Node: Node.js is an open-source run-time environment that allows JavaScript code to be run on the server side, allowing web developers to use one language for an entire web application. Node.js was the twelfth most-popular technology in our analysis, not good enough to make the list but enough to show a solid demand for these skills. We recommend that any JavaScript developers spend some time with Node.js to make themselves more well-rounded, even if they focus on the client side.
• MEAN: The MEAN stack (MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS and Node.js) ranked eighteenth in our analysis. Using the MEAN stack allows you to create an entire application using JavaScript, which is simple, quick and highly versatile. Learning MEAN will give any developer a strong background in one of the most common and active programming languages in the world.