If you would like to start a career related to programming, you might be wondering which programming language to learn in 2020. The variety of programming languages is extremely large, however not all of them are equally demanded by employers. In fact, there is usually a limited number of top programming languages that are widely used right now, however, each year the leading languages change their positions. Let’s check the list of the programming languages that will be especially useful for coders in 2020.
Python
This year, an absolute leader is Python, the programming language developed in the 1990s by Guido van Rossum. One of the greatest aspects of this widespread language is the fact it has quite simple semantics which makes Python one of the simplest programming languages that are used in the modern industry.
The current version of Python is known as Python 3 and it was released in 2008 after introduction of multiple essential changes.
Some of the key features of Python:
- Python has a powerful, productive and yet simple design;
- Python has a variety of useful libraries with advanced functions and algorithms that can be used for scientific purposes;
- Python is featured with the first-class integration with C/C++ which means heavy tasks can be turned to C/C++.
Python will be particularly useful for anyone who would like to start a career in Data Analytics, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence including Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Web Development and Enterprise Application. In 2020, Python developers are the most demanded in The USA where there were nearly 74 000 job offers only in January. Being a Python developer in 2020 can bring you even $120 000.
JavaScript
Although when Brendan Eich developed JavaScript as a specific programming language for the Netscape’s Browser, JavaScript was very criticised for actually being a rather poor language, there were several large modifications that transformed JavaScript into a high-level, dynamic and multi-paradigm language. JavaScript became especially popular when in Ryan Dahl created his cross-platform runtime Node.js allowing JavaScript to be run on Server Side. This happened in 2009 and in 2010, the AngularJS Web development framework was released by Google.
Some of the key features of JavaScript:
- So far, JavaScript is the number 1 language used for Browser programming;
- JavaScript is regularly modernised;
- JavaScript can be used for event-driven programming which makes it suitable for especially heavy tasks.
According to the annual ranking of the most demanded programming languages in The USA for January, 2020, JavaScript was on the third position with 57 000 job offers. The annual salary offered to the JavaScript developers is nearly $114 000.
You will have a chance to use the knowledge of JavaScript for Browser Game Development, Web Development, Serverless Computing, Backend Development and Mobile App Development.
Java
Providing you still can’t make up your mind which coding career to choose, a good idea will be to learn Java which is definitely a multi-purpose and cross-platform language which is used in absolutely different industries. For instance, being a Java coder, you can develop applications for Android, become a Web developer, work for Enterprise application development and become a Big Data architect. As you can see, these fields are quite diverse and still, all of them are using Java which was initially created by James Gosling and the team of Sun in the 1990s as an alternative to C++ in the field of business application development.
The idea was to create a quite simple object-oriented language that would support Multi-threading programming and the Java developers have succeeded in their project. Furthermore, the creation of JVM which stands for Java Virtual Machine, makes it possible to use Java as a platform-independent language.
The key features of Java:
- Java is a feature-rich, powerful and multi-paradigm programming language which is featured with high developer productivity while its learning curve is rather moderate;
- JVM is one of the best virtual machines that have ever been created;
- JVM is a perfect language for creating business applications since it is strictly backward compatible.
Today, Java is the second most demanding programming language according to the USA ranking where there were nearly 69 000 job offers in 2020. The annual salary you can count on while being a Java developer is nearly $104 000.
Other extremely popular programming languages in 2020 include:
- C# which used for game, app and Web development as well as Server-Side programming and creating software for Windows Platform;
- C which is used for embedded systems, system programming, game development, machine learning and deep learning as well as IoT and Real-Time Systems;
- C++ that is great for creating embedded systems and distributed systems, IoT and Real-Time Systems and is also used for System programming, game development, machine learning and deep learning.
Other languages that are on the list of the top ten programming languages in 2020 are PHP, Swift, Go and Ruby.