5 Most Popular Programming Languages for Newbie Programmers
For many beginners looking to learn how to program, choosing a programming language to start with presents itself as a dilemma especially with the very long list of programming languages available today.
More experienced programmers also go through this phase whenever they are trying to learn a new language to bolster their portfolios.
For this two reasons I have decided to share five very popular programming languages anyone can start using either as a beginner/total noob in programming or otherwise.
1. Java
Java happens to be the most popular programming language in the world today thanks to its fitness in different areas of programming and development.
From mobile/web apps to desktop applications, Java plays its roles beautifully and fits in with any technology stack.
Java is widely known to be portable, scalable with a large user base and community support.
2. JavaScript
Even with the similarity in names, JavaScript is an entirely different language from Java as most beginners tend to mix both languages up.
JavaScript is also a very popular programming language and is widely considered as the most dominant language on the internet.
Over the years JavaScript has grown steadily to become the default language of the web and it keeps growing at an increasingly steady pace.
Most popular frameworks used in building web applications are built on JavaScript.
JavaScript works hand in hand with HTML/CSS, so if you plan on learning JavaScript add some HTML and CSS to the menu.
3. PHP
PHP is the go to scripting language for anyone looking to build a web application.
Just like JavaScript, PHP is a top web development language and is mostly used for server side development unlike JavaScript which is only used for client side development.
It is said that PHP accounts for over 80% of the websites on the internet due to the simplicity of its syntax coupled with some other juicy advantages.
A lot of frameworks and content management systems were built on PHP the most popular being WordPress, other notable ones include Laravel, Joomla and Drupal.
4. C
Old is gold, now that's a perfect qualification for the C programming language.
Very powerful and useful, C has been around as a developer tool for over 3 decades and it is still very much in use.
Most modern programming languages of today borrowed concepts from C ranging from syntax to paradigms and constructs rendering it as one of the most influential programming languages ever.
C is mainly used in building specialized high performance applications and systems, for example the Linux OS.
5. Python
This list is not complete without the addition of a fantastic multipurpose web language that can be used for a variety of purposes like server side development, desktop applications, artificial intelligence,data mining, hacking e.t.c.
Python has a nice simple syntax which makes it easy to learn and adapt to. Also the notable features of Python such as its portability and flexibility makes it a hot and in demand language among other programming languages.
After JavaScript and PHP, Python is easily the most sough after language chosen by developers for web projects.
Like PHP, Python has a some frameworks that streamlines the development process and makes it easier for devs to build on Python syntax. The most popular Python framework is Django which happens to be a web development framework used for building web apps.
Python also comes with some packages some packages that makes it suitable for use in some fields such as mathematics, engineering, AI and machine learning
Great information about computer languages!
In my opinion, if you want to learn programming, start with Python! It is both powerful, (relatively) intuitive and easy to learn. Unlike most other languages, it was designed for making it easy to read and understand the code - which is an essential feature both when learning a new language and when maintaining existing applications.
C is still useful and will remain useful for many decades in the future ... but I would not recommend anyone to start with C as the first language. C is a relatively low-level language - if one wants to make an application that is fast and light-weight then C is the right choice. If one wants to produce something that works in relatively short development time, then C is a bad choice.
PHP is popular because it got a quite dominant position for server-side web programming at one point. It got a certain network-effect ... but it's not a very good language. I believe PHP usage is in a decline, I don't see any future for PHP.
JavaScript is the standard for browser-side programming, I don't know a lot of JS, but I think it's not a very elegant or easy language. However, it's very useful to master JS when building web applications or even simple web pages. JS has even become popular for backend applications (Node.js).
I believe the same can be said about Java; not a very elegant nor easy language, but highly useful. It was the go-to-language for browser applets - nowadays it's almost never used in the browser, but quite some web applications are using Java on the backend. I believe Java is mostly useful for building cellphone apps nowadays.
Python is simple, easy to learn and use though in my opinion not as easy as learning and using JavaScript, you just have to love JavaScript, being a multipurpose language I think any one interested in programming should learn it first combined with HTML/CSS before any other language.
Java would have been a better JavaScript competitor had it been it was relatively easy to use, at the same time Java is also great and very useful though it's getting less use lately same as PHP whereas PHP is still very widely popular in many developer circles.
JavaScript and PHP are both easy to use though JavaScript still takes the lead in the comparison.
C is the god.
Nice points you have made here