10 Best Programming Language to Learn in 2023
Matthew Martin
With time old programming languages become obsolete while new programming languages are launched, but they never gain traction. A common question amongst beginners (and coders alike) is the programming language they should invest learning in, that is in demand, stable outlook, and plenty of jobs.
❓ What Programming Language should I Learn?
Each programming language is designed for a specific purpose and has its relative merits and demerits. Also, the answer to the most useful programming language to learn is subjective and depends on your familiarity with coding. Irrespective, the following 3 parameters are essential to narrow a language a choice.
1.Job Opportunities in the chosen Language.
2.The popularity of the chosen programming language should be on an uptick.
3.Your Career / Life Goals.
Below, we have listed the 10 Most Useful Programming Languages you can learn right now. Sample Usage and Applications of each language are also listed to help you decide. Read more…
1) Python
Created: Python language developed by Guido van Rossum. It was first released in 1991.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It is one of the best programming language to learn which supports multiple systems and platforms | Note ideal for Mobile Computing |
| Object-Oriented Programming (OOPs) driven. | Python’s database access layer is bit underdeveloped and primitive. |
| Helps to improve Programmer’s Productivity | |
| It is one of the best coding language to learn that allows you to scale even the most complex applications with ease | |
| Extensive Support Libraries |
Usage/Application: Web and Internet Development, Scientific and Numeric applications, Desktop GUIs, Business applications. It is widely used in AI and Machine Learning space.
Salary: An average salary for any Python developer in United State is $114,383 per year.
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Reason Selected: Machine Learning, AI, and Data Science are emerging fields and Python is a staple programming language in such software programs.
Link: Learn Python Tutorial
2) Java
Created: James Gosling primarily designed Java at Sun Microsystems in the year 1996
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Object- Oriented language | Memory management in Java is quite expensive |
| Java offers APIs for different activities like Database connection, networking, XML parsing, utilities, etc. | The absence of templates can limit you to create high-quality data structures. |
| Powerful open source Rapid Development tools | |
| It is one of the best programming language to learn that has large number of open source libraries |
Usage/Application: Java mostly used for developing Android apps, web apps, and Big data.
Salary: An average salary for any Java developer in United State is $101,013 per year.
Learning difficulty: Learning Java is simple and easy.
Reason Selected: Java has wide and growing adoption. There is and will never be a shortage of jobs requiring Java Skills.
Link: Learn Java Tutorial
3) R
Created: R was designed by Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka at the University of Auckland. This project was conceived in 1992, but it’s initial version released in 1995 and a stable beta version in 2000.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| R is one of the best programming languages to learn which is a comprehensive statistical analysis language that encourages you to develop new ideas | In R, quality of some packages is not up to the mark |
| As a statistical language which is considered to be very easy to code | R does not have the best memory management. Therefore, it may consume all available memory. |
| R is open-source software. Therefore, anyone can use and change it | |
| R is good for GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows. | |
| R is one of the most useful programming languages which is cross-platform that means it can seamlessly run on different operating systems. |
Usage/Application: Data Science projects, Statistical computing, Machine learning
Salary: An average wage for any R developer ranges from approximately $90,042 to $136,616 per year
Learning Difficulty: Hard
Reason Selected: Data Sciences is a booming field and R is primarily used for Data Analysis.
Link: Learn R Programming
4) Javascript
Created: JavaScript was earlier called LiveScript when it first shipped in with Netscape Navigator 2.0 in September 1995. Later, it was renamed as a JavaScript.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Client-side JavaScript is very fast as it can be run quickly in the client-side browser | JavaScript only allows single inheritance, so multiple inheritances are not possible |
| JavaScript is one of the best coding language to learn which is relatively simple to learn. | No copy or equal method is available in JavaScript. |
| It is one of the best programming language to learn which can work smoothly with other languages and can be used in a huge variety of applications. | JavaScript interpreted differently by different browsers. |
| Grease monkey support to write snippets of JavaScript which can execute on specific web pages |
Usage/ Applications: JavaScript usage include web/mobile app development, game development, and desktop app development.
Salary: An average wage for Javascript developer in the United States is around $110,981 per year
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Reason Selected: With NodeJS JavaScript now supports Server-Side Scripting as well. JavaScript is an indispensable language there will always be a need for JS skills.
Link: Learn Javascript Tutorial
5) Swift
Created: Swift was developed by Apple in July 2010 so that iOS developers do not need to work with Objective-C.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| The Swift program codes are near to natural English, so it is easy to read | With the continues updating of swift versions of Apple, Swift is somewhat unstable |
| It is one of the most useful programming languages which has easy to add new features which makes swift high- level language | As it is a new programming language the pool of Swift developers is very limited |
| It is one of the best coding language to learn that does not have long code line. | |
| Automatic Memory Management feature prevents the memory leaks. |
Usage applications: Swift is specially designed language which works with Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks to create all types of iOS apps.
Salary: An average salary for iOS developer in the United States is around $130,801 per year
Learning difficulty: Easy
Reason Selected: Apple! Should we say more?
6) C++
Created: C++ is a programming language that was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1983.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It is a popular language, and thus, there are many compilers and libraries | The syntax is complex, and the standard library is small, making this language very difficult to learn for the beginner programmer. |
| Other programming languages like C, C#, and Java have very similar syntax to C++, make it easy to learn for everyone who knows C++. | C++ program can’t support garbage collection or Dynamic Memory Allocation |
| It is one of the popular coding languages which has no garbage collector running in the background. | The object orientation system in C++ is unnecessarily basic compared to other languages. |
Usage applications: C++ is widely used in Game Development, Advance Computations, and Graphics Compilers
Salary: The average salary of C++ developers in the United States is $113,865 per year.
Learning Difficulty: Hard
Reason Selected: C++ is robust language and is widely used in diverse fields. Will never go out of fashion
Link: Learn C++ Tutorial
7) C#
Year Created: C# is a computer programming language. It’s the first version released in 2001.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| C# uses almost similar syntax which follows by C so it easy to understand for those who know C language | It allows pointers in ‘unsafe’ blocks |
| It is one of the best coding language to learn that has Easy Integration with Windows | |
| Fully integrated with the .NET library which provides access to a repository of functionality and support. | |
| Safer than its namesakes (C/++) as pointer types are not permitted |
Usage applications: Widely used in Enterprise Cross-Applications Development, Web Applications
Salary: The average salary for “C# developer” ranges from $66,493 per year to $101,775 per year
Learning Difficulty: Hard
Reason Selected: Widely used in Enterprise software and the skill is in demand.
Link: Learn C# Tutorial
8) PHP
Year Created: Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP in 1994
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Running with PHP is simple | Error handling facility is poor as PHP lacks debugging tool |
| Functional and Object-Oriented Programming | Developing a website with PHP Web Development is slower than other programming languages. |
| It is one of the top programming languages that has Large Open Source Software Community | |
| It is one of the best coding languages which has reasonably good system of automation tools available for testing and deploying | |
| It is an open source programming language |
Usage applications: Web Applications, Content Management Systems, eCommerce Applications
Salary: The average salary for a PHP Developer in the US is $84,727 per year
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Reason Selected: Most popular scripting language. WordPress, Facebook all created using PHP. Never a shortage of PHP jobs.
Link: Learn PHP Tutorial
9) SQL
Created: SQL was developed at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce. This language was made available publicly in 1979.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Powerful query language | Difficult to convert data from Objects into database tables |
| Optimised for large numbers of table rows | It can only run on the single server, so increasing speed means upgrading hardware. |
| Fast for searching and querying of data | As SQL databases run on a single server so in case if the server stop working, then the database shouldn’t be accessed |
| High availability and consistency of data | |
| Fast for retrieving data from multiple tables |
Usage applications: Used in Any Database
Salary: The average salary earned by SQL Developer is $84,792 per year in the United States
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Reason Selected: You need to know database and SQL irrespective of what profile/language chose as a software developer.
Link: Learn SQL Tutorial
10) Go
Created: Go language which is also known as golang is developed at Google in 2009 by Robert Griesemer, Ken Thompson, and Rob Pike.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Go is a really fast language as it is compiled to machine code | Poor Library Support |
| Its syntax is small compared to other languages, and it’s easy to learn. | Interfaces Are Implicit |
| It is one of the best programming languages to learn which offers standard library to provide handy built-in functions for working with primitive types | Fractured Dependency Management |
| Go makes concurrent programming easy. |
Usage applications: Console utilities, GUI applications, and web applications
Salary: The average salary earned by GO Developer is $94,082 per year in the United States
Learning Difficulty: Difficult
Reason Selected: Upcoming language from Google.
Link: Learn Go Programming