The most confusing part which a human faces before learning to code is Which programming languages should I learn?
Here are top 10 Programming languages to get started with Coding.
1. Python
Python is one of the most commonly used programming languages today and is easy for beginners to learn because of its readability. It is a free, open-source programming language with extensive support modules and community development, easy integration with web services, user-friendly data structures, and GUI-based desktop applications. It is a popular programming language for machine learning and deep learning applications.
Python is used to develop 2D imaging and 3D animation packages like Blender, Inkscape, and Autodesk. It has also been used to create popular video games, including Civilization IV, Vegas Trike, and Toontown. Python is used for scientific and computational applications like FreeCAD and Abacus and also by popular websites like YouTube, Quora, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Level: Beginner – Python enables a beginner to become productive quickly
Platform: Web, Desktop
Benefits: Flexible, Naturally/Intuitively readable, Highly regarded official tutorials and documentation
2. Java
Java is one of the most common, in-demand computer programming languages used today.
Owned by Oracle Corporation, this general-purpose programming language with its object-oriented structure has become a standard for applications that can be used regardless of platform (e.g., Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, etc.) because of its Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) capabilities. As a result, Java is recognized for its portability across platforms, from mainframe data centers to smartphones. Today there are more than 3 billion devices running applications built with Java.
Java is widely used in web and application development as well as big data. Java is also used on the backend of several popular websites, including Google, Amazon, Twitter, and YouTube. It is also extensively used in hundreds of applications. New Java frameworks like Spring, Struts, and Hibernate are also very popular. With millions of Java developers worldwide, there are hundreds of ways to learn Java. Also, Java programmers have an extensive online community and support each other to solve problems.
Level: Intermediate
Platform: Web, Mobile, Desktop
Benefits: Regarded as a good start for learning to think like a programmer and gain coding skills
3. Kotlin
Kotlin is a general-purpose programming language originally developed and unveiled as Project Kotlin by JetBrains in 2011. The first version was officially released in 2016. It is interoperable with Java and supports functional programming languages.
Kotlin is used extensively for Android apps, web application, desktop application, and server-side application development. Kotlin was built to be better than Java, and people who use this language are convinced. Most of the Google applications are based on Kotlin. Some companies using Kotlin as their programming language include Coursera, Pinterest, PostMates among many others.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Platform: Web, Mobile, Desktop, Server
Benefits: Less code-heavy than Java and other languages, Relatively easy to adopt, Fully compatible with Java
4. PHP
PHP is an open-source programming language created in 1990. Many web developers will find it essential to learn PHP, as this language is used to build more than 80% of websites on the Internet, including those like Facebook and Yahoo.
Programmers mainly use PHP mainly to write server-side scripts. But developers can also use this language to write command-line scripts, and programmers with high-level PHP coding skills can also use it to develop desktop applications.
PHP is considered a relatively easy language to learn for beginning developers. PHP professionals have a number of dedicated online communities, making it easy to get support and answers to questions.
- Level: Beginner to intermediate
- Platform: Cross-platform (desktop, mobile, web)
- Benefits: Open-source, Easy to develop and may be integrated with many different tools, Cost effective, Flexible with database connectivity
5. C(#)
Developed by Microsoft, C# rose to fame in the 2000s for supporting the concepts of object-oriented programming. It is one of the most powerful programming languages for the .NET framework. Anders Hejlsberg, the creator of C#, says the language is more like C++ than Java.
It is best suited for applications on Windows, Android, and iOS, as it takes the help of the integrated development environment product, Microsoft Visual C++. C# is used on the back end of several popular websites like Bing, Dell, Visual Studio, and MarketWatch.
- Level: Intermediate
- Platform: Cross-platform, including mobile and enterprise software applications
- Benefits: Fast , Simple to use, Object-oriented, Scalable and updateable, Interoperable with other codes, Open source, Extensive library
6. C and C++
C is probably the oldest commonly used programming language and is the root of other programming languages such as C#, Java, and JavaScript. C++ is an enhanced version of C. Many developers today skip learning C on its own, while others think learning C first provides a valuable foundation for C++ development. Both languages are widely used in computer science and programming.
C and C++ developers can make use of compilers for a wide variety of platforms, making applications developed in these languages largely transportable. Both C and C++ are considered high-performance languages. As such, they are widely used in developing applications where performance is a critical issue, such as client/server applications, commercial products like Firefox and Adobe, and video games.
- Level: C: Intermediate to Advanced, C++: Beginner to Intermediate
- Platform: Mobile, Desktop, Embedded
- Benefits: C – Used to learn the fundamentals of programming at the lowest (hardware) level, C++ – allows for a much higher “control” than other languages
7. Ruby
If you want to start with a language that is known for being relatively simple to learn, consider Ruby. Developed in the 1990s, it was designed to have a more human-friendly syntax while still being flexible from the standpoint of its object-oriented architecture that supports procedural and functional programming notation. A web-application framework that is implemented in Ruby is Ruby on Rails (“RoR”). Ruby developers tout it for being an easy language to write in and also for the relatively short learning time required. These attributes have led to a large community of Ruby developers and a growing interest in the language among beginning developers.
- Level: Beginner
- Platform: Web
- Benefits: Flexible, The syntax is considered easy to read and to write (no specialized “vocabulary” to get started), Enforces good programming style
8. HTML
Now many of you will say that HTML is not a language. But HTML is a language. (Hyper Text Markup Language) Many of programmers start with HTML and then jump to other languages, you can also give HTML a try.
- Level: Beginner
- Platform: Web
9. Go
Go was developed by Google in 2007 for APIs and web applications. Go has recently become one of the fastest-growing programming languages due to its simplicity, as well as its ability to handle multicore and networked systems and massive codebases.
Go, also known as Golang, was created to meet the needs of programmers working on large projects. It has gained popularity among many large IT companies thanks to its simple and modern structure and syntax familiarity. Companies using Go as their programming language include Google, Uber, Twitch, Dropbox, among many others. Go is also gaining in popularity among data scientists because of its agility and performance.
- Level: Beginner to intermediate
- Platform: Cross-platform, mainly desktop
- Benefits: Widely considered a “minimalist” language, Easy to learn, Transparent code, Compatible, Fast
10. Swift
A few years ago, Swift made the top 10 in the monthly TIOBE Index ranking of popular programming languages. Apple developed Swift in 2014 for Linux and Mac applications.
An open-source programming language that is easy to learn, Swift supports almost everything from the programming language Objective-C. Swift requires fewer coding skills compared with other programming languages, and it can be used with IBM Swift Sandbox and IBM Bluemix. Swift is used in popular iOS apps like WordPress, Mozilla Firefox, SoundCloud, and even in the game Flappy Bird.
- Level: Beginner to intermediate
- Platform: Mobile (Apple iOS apps, specifically)
- Benefits: Relatively easy to learn, Clean syntax, Less code, Faster than comparable programming languages, Open source