Top 9 Most Popular Programming Languages in 2017

If 2017 is the year that you decide to broaden your horizons and learn a new programming language to add to your professional profile, then it can be a bit overwhelming choosing which one. There are so many hot languages being talked about at the moment, ranked by different metrics whether they be StackOverflow questions, GitHub projects, or Google results.

What we’ve done, is go through the data available from Indeed.com and collated the number of job postings requiring certain programming languages to make your life easier. So here are the top 9 programming languages for 2017:

1. SQL

SQL is the most popular programming language on the job site, finding itself well ahead any other language on the job website. The language is used to manipulate databases and communicate with them. The many variations of SQL include MySQL and Microsoft SQL, and only last year Microsoft released SQL Server 2016 which was extremely popular. This new version introduced new features which made it more open-source (integration with R, etc.)

2. Java

Java is ranked at number two as it’s becoming more and more sought after. The growth of Android is probably a reason for this. The language is simple and used by billions of devices worldwide, making it a highly popular coding language. Businesses large and small are powered by applications written in Java, which means that it’s the best language to use for any innovative business software. Java is the language all Android apps are built on and it’s also used by most Fortune 500 companies and government departments for their back-end development. A new version, Java 9 is set to be launched in July of this year.

3. Python

Python is a general purpose language that increases developer productivity and enhances code readability. Released in the 1990’s, it’s used widely for desktop apps, data mining and web apps. The release of Microsoft’s beta version 2.0 of Cognitive Toolkit’s open source deep-learning framework includes support for Python. It’s relatively easy for beginners and although it isn’t as complex as other languages, it can still be used for things such as web development, 3D rendering and scientific computing.

4. JavaScript

JavaScript is compatible across all browsers, being used in most web pages. It’s a client-side scripting language which is mainly used for front-end development and is used to add interactivity to web pages. JavaScript laced pages and websites allow for better control over the web interface and animations. Used primarily for front-end development, frameworks such as Node.js allow for backend programming too. It’s the most popular language on StackOverflow.

5. C++

Built on C, C++ is a high-performance and powerful language that is used in building game engines, system software and desktop/web apps. C++ is more difficult to learn for junior developers compare to JavaScript or Python. This language is great for big software projects such as web browsers, computer graphics drivers, financial trading algorithms, etc. The language has a feature called object orientated programming which isn’t supported by C, which is why C++ is more appropriate for some tasks making it easier and faster.

6. C#

Released in the early 2000’s, this language was developed for Microsoft’s .Net framework. Intended as a general purpose language it can be used to develop standard Windows software and server-side web apps. Now it can be used on non-Windows since the introduction of the .Net Core open-source platform in June last year. The main use for this language is building Microsoft enterprise software.

7. Perl

Perl has been dubbed “the duct tape that holds the Internet together” and is an amalgam of two languages Perl 5 and Perl 6 (launched in 2015). They are a dynamic programming language that is used extensively for graphics, CGI, and finance programming. It’s a great DevOps tool as it works well with other languages.

8. iOS

For the iOS operating system, most developers use Objective-C, C, or Swift. Swift was released over two years ago, and it became very popular due to scalability, speed, ease of use and because there is a strong demand in the mobile app area. Swift was update in 2016 to Swift 3.0 and its new features were modernization of debugging identifiers, a better translation of Objective-C APIs and a new model for collections and indices. Swift 3.1 and Swift 4 are set to be released later this year.

9. PHP

PHP has seen little change in popularity, however it’s holding strong. The language is used on most websites today including WordPress and Facebook and while it’s not the trendiest language, the amount of websites that are built with it makes sure it still remains very popular.

Have we missed out any programming languages? Let us know in the comments!

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