Learning a programming language is somewhat similar to learning a language or a language. Those who choose to learn have their goals, interests and motivations.
Not necessarily the programming languages that are the most popular at a given time are also the best. And what it’s like to be better, or what makes you better, is also very relative.
It is logical, however, that for those who plan to learn a very popular language, Latin would not be among the main choices. Learning Latin is very interesting, it has its benefits, but large-scale communication is not one of them.
In the case of programming languages, if the objective of learning is professional, it would be sensible to observe what happens with the market, to know which languages are most used at the moment, trends and perspectives. In any case, the most popular are not necessarily the best alternatives for everyone either. There are those who can opt for less popular languages and more focused on certain niches.
It is also important to research the history of programming languages and to know which languages have remained very current over time.
Programming language
A programming language is a formal language that, through a series of instructions, allows a programmer to write a set of orders, consecutive actions, data and algorithms to create programs that control the physical and logical behavior of a machine.
In another definition, it is a structured communication system that allows understanding between a programmer and a machine.
Most popular programming languages over the years
The Youtube channel Data is beautiful carried out a survey on the most used programming languages each year. According to Data is beautiful, in 1965 Fortran was the most used language, followed by Cobol, Algol, Assembler, APL and Basic.
In 1975, Fortran continued to dominate, followed by Cobol, Pascal, Lisp, Basic and Algol.
In 1985, the ADA language was the most used, and then C, Pascal, Lisp, Fortran and Basic completed the six most used languages.
In 1995, the C language predominated, followed by C++, Visual Basic, Fortran, Basic and Pascal.
In 2005, the most used was the Java language, with Javascript, PHP, C, C++ and C# following in that order.
In 2015, Java continued to be the most used language, followed by Javascript, Python, PHP, C# and C++.
Octverse GitHub search on most used programming languages
GitHub is an American company whose website is a platform that hosts source codes and programming files. Through the platform, programmers can collaboratively participate in projects around the world, whether private or open source.
The GitHub website has its annual report, which analyzes the development of the programming market and the languages most used by developers in the world. The report is called Octverse.
As an example, according to the Octoverse report from GitHub, in the second year of the 2020s, that is, in 2021, the most used languages were Javascript, Python, Java, Typescript, C# and PHP.
PYPL Index, Popularity of Programming Language Index
The PYPL, Popularity of Programming Language Index, also supported by GitHub, is a ranking that analyzes how often programming language tutorials are searched on Google. The principle of this survey is the more a tutorial of a programming language is searched, the more popular, it is assumed, is the programming language of the searched tutorial. Raw data is from Google Trends.
Still taking the year 2021 as an example, according to the PYPL Index, that year the most popular programming language was Python, with Java, Javascript and C# following.
TIOBE Index, Tiobe Index
Started in 2001, the TIOBE Index is created by the company TIOBE Software BV, based in the Netherlands, which specializes in evaluating and monitoring the quality of software. The name TIOBE is the acronym of the English phrase, “The Importance Of Being Earnest”.
TIOBE Index rankings are calculated based on hits from the most popular search engines. There are twenty-five search engines considered to calculate the TIOBE Index.
Compared to the PYPL Index, the TIOBE Index does not record the most searched programming languages at the moment, but the number of web pages with the name of the programming language involved. Therefore, the TIOBE Index verifies the amount of existing content on web pages about programming languages.
To continue the example base with the year 2021, that year the TIOBE Index ranking ended with Python in the lead, followed by C, Java and C++ in the top four positions.
RedMonk Programming Language Ranking
Redmonk is an American company, which mainly performs analysis and consulting in the technology sector, and is focused on software developers.
The company has its ranking of most popular programming languages. The ranking is sourced from a combination of data from GitHub and Stack Overflow. According to Redmonk, the idea is not to offer a statistically valid representation of the current use of programming languages, but to try to trace potential trends.
JavaScript topped the 2021 RedMonk Programming Language Ranking, followed by Python, Java, and PHP.
Stack Overflow Annual Developer Survey
Stack Overflow, owned by the American company Stack Exchange, is a question and answer site about programming and technology in general. It is widely used by programmers, students, professionals and technology enthusiasts.
On the platform, users can post questions for other Stack Overflow participants to answer.
Annually, Stack Overflow regularly publishes its Stack Overflow Annual Developer Survey. The survey made with polls has the participation of tens of thousands of respondents. In addition to information on the programming languages used, the survey also examines various aspects of the experience of developing software and technology resources in general.
The poll considers programming, scripting and markup languages. In the year 2021, taken as a reference example in this article, the Stack Overflow Annual Developer Survey had JavaScript in the lead, with the languages HTML/CSS, Python, SQL, Java and Node.js then among the six most used
IEEE Spectrum Ranking
The IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, headquartered in the United States, is a professional technical organization that presents itself with the objective of dedicating itself to the advancement of technology for the benefit of humanity.
According to the organization, the main objective of the IEEE is to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity and the improvement of global conditions.
IEEE Spectrum is the institute’s publication and website about trends and developments in technology, engineering and science. The IEEE Spectrum also has its ranking of the most popular programming languages.
IEEE Spectrum rankings are created by weighting and combining different metrics from sources such as CareerBuilder, GitHub, Google, Hacker News, IEEE, Reddit, Stack Overflow and Twitter.
In addition to the standard ranking ranking, it is also possible to choose custom criteria, such as predefined weights, trends, programming language types, and other presets.
And to end the series of examples with the year 2021, the IEEE Spectrum Ranking 2021 had Python as the leader, and Java, C, C++, Javascript and C# followed, in order, in the top six positions.
Activities for those who know programming language
There are vast and diverse activities in which those who know programming language can participate. The following is just a sampling of possibilities.
Scrum master, systems analyst, UX writer, game developer, computer engineer, software engineer, webmaster, programmer, data analyst, internal systems developer, master of edge computing, cyber city analyst, man-machine teaming manager, quantum machine learning analyst, threat hunter, database programmer, web developer, computer engineer, digital forensics expert, computer scientist, application developer, web programmer, robotics programmer, cybersecurity engineer, process analyst, architect solution developer, QA analyst, industrial programmer, automation programmer, creative coding developer, big data architect, full stack developer, 3d programmer, mobile developer, CRM developer, UX designer, information security coordinator, data scientist, product owner , systems and application tester, data engineer, network administrator, DevOps analyst, TDD (Test Driven Development), DevOps Specialist, Product Manager, Script Programmer, Systems Engineering Manager, Code Tester, IT Business Partner, Front End Programmer, Back End Programmer, IT Business Analyst, Cloud Engineer, Systems Developer embedded, ethical hacking, technical user support, mainframe systems analyst, information security coordinator, refactoring, fraud analyst, macro programmer, requirements analyst, extension, plugin and add-nos developer, systems deployment analyst , deployment specialist, academic researcher, IT facilitator, DPO (Data protection officer), systems administrator and educator.
Links to the places that find the most used programming languages
Youtube channel Data is beautiful https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkWbqlDAyJh2n8DN5X6NZyg
GitHub search for the most used programming languages https://octoverse.github.com
PYPL Index https://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html
TIOBE Index https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index
Stack Overflow Annual Developer Su
rvey https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey
Ranking IEEE Spectrum https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages
