While Java and Python still seem to rule the programming world, there are always new (and old) coding languages to consider. In this blog, we break down what’s currently in-demand and holding programmers’ interest, the languages that will earn you the most, and we also take a look at TypeScript – a programming language which is rapidly growing in popularity.
The In-Demand Programming Languages
Last summer, we posted a blog talking about the most in-demand programming languages. That post detailed 7 of the most popular programming languages favored by developers. They were:
- Java
- Python
- JavaScript
- C++
- C#
- PHP
- Perl
Nearly a full year later and this list still holds true. We can, however, add two more to the list: Golang and R. These languages are explained below:
Golang aka Go (programming language) – Golang is a coding language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software. Originally designed by Google it was created to improve programming productivity. As an open source programming language it’s one of the more popular ones, due mostly to its ease of use. It also, however, boasts impressive memory capabilities. For example, Golang documents take up just 2 KB of memory as opposed to Java’s records that are around 1 MB (a massive difference). Because of these reasons, we expect to see this language remain a programming favorite.
R – The R programming language is one of the more utilized languages for data analysis, machine learning, and for developing statistical software. By providing such a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modeling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, etc.) and graphical techniques, it has become a favored language among the analytics community. Interested in data science? Learn R.
The Top Paying Programming Languages
The IT skills gap may be creating a void of technical talent but one thing it does appear to be doing is rising the salaries of developers and programmers, especially within the US. According to a Developer Survey conducted by Stack Overflow (a developer knowledge-sharing site), the top developer/programmer salaries in the US are way higher than median global salaries for all languages (included in the survey).
Among the best paying in the US were: Scala ($143k), Clojure ($139k), Go ($136k), Erlang ($135k), and Objective-C ($132k). Looking at the global scale, figures – and languages – were a bit different. The top 5 were listed as: Clojure ($90k), F# ($80k), Go ($80k), Scala ($78k), and Elixir ($76k).
Being a US company, however, the US rates are what interest us. For those languages we previously mentioned in the preceding section, only PHP and Perl fell outside the top 25 earning languages. The earnings for the rest were as such (ranked in descending order): Go ($136k), C++ ($120k), Java ($118k), Python ($116), JavaScript ($110k), R (108k), and C# ($105k).
A Look at the Rise of TypeScript
TypeScript’s trajectory has been described as “significant and sustainable.” Designed and developed by Microsoft, this programming language first appeared in 2012 for the development of large applications. Perhaps more importantly, it transcompiles (takes the source code of a programming language as its input and outputs the source code into another programming language) to JavaScript. “By providing minimal checking syntax on top of JavaScript, TypeScript allows developers to type check their code, which can reveal bugs and generally improve the organization and documentation of large JavaScript code bases.”* With JavaScript being a top 3 used/in-demand programming language, TypeScript’s popularity is understandable.
*Explanation via The New Stack
Looking at the numbers, TypeScript ranks as the 12th most popular programming language, as ranked by RedMonk, a developer-focused industry analyst firm. When the next annual rankings are released, we expect TypeScript to crack the top 10.
So please check back with us next year to see what other languages have made the list!
