7 Programming Languages Your Developer SHOULD know – Software development is a dynamic field, in which new programming languages, frameworks, and technologies may live and die within a few years. That being the case, developers need to constantly learn new skills to remain relevant, Speros Misirlakis, head of curriculum at Coding Dojo, wrote in an upcoming blog post.
Examining job demand is one useful way to measure a programming language’s popularity, because it shows developers the skills they will need to improve their career prospects, Misirlakis said.
Coding Dojo recently analyzed hundreds of thousands of job postings on job search engine Indeed that contained the name of a programming language, stack, or framework.
Here are the most in-demand coding languages going into 2018:
1. Java
Java decreased in popularity by about 6,000 job postings going into 2018 compared to going into 2017, the analysis found. However, it is still an extremely well-established language, used by millions of developers and billions of devices worldwide. Additionally, all Android apps are based on Java, and 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Java as a server-side language for backend development, Misirlakis noted.
2. Python
Python grew in popularity by about 5,000 job postings since last year. It’s commonly used in scientific computing, data mining, and machine learning—and the growth in demand for machine learning developers in particular may be driving some of its popularity, Misirlakis wrote.
3. JavaScript
JavaScript remains as popular this year as it was last year, which is not a surprise, as it is used by over 80% of developers and by 95% of all websites for any dynamic logic on their pages, according to Coding Dojo. “Several front-end frameworks for JavaScript such as React and AngularJS have huge future potential as IoT and mobile devices become more popular, so we doubt we’ll see JavaScript drop in popularity anytime soon,” Misirlakis wrote.
4. C++
Like JavaScript, C++ remained as popular as it was in early 2017. The language is usually used for system/application software, game development, drivers, client-server applications and embedded firmware. Though many programmers find C++ to be complex to learn and use, and prefer Python or JavaScript, it remains in use in many legacy systems at large enterprises, according to Coding Dojo.
5. C#
C# fell in job demand slightly this year. An object-oriented language from Microsoft designed to run on the .NET platform, it is also heavily used in video game development. C# 7.2 came out in November 2017, and added several new features aimed at avoiding unnecessary copying.
6. PHP
PHP moved from no. 9 in the rankings last year to no. 6 this year. Most developers use this scripting language to add functions that HTML can’t handle, or to interact with MySQL databases.
7. Perl
Despite dropping about 3,000 job postings, Perl remained on the list. “Perl 5 and Perl 6 are both chugging along and Perl continues to be popular for system and network administrators and as a glue language,” Misirlakis wrote.
Certain other languages did not make the top seven, but still grew in use and popularity over the past year. These include Swift (which has been growing steadily in popularity since it launched) R (which is expected to climb the rankings, as Stack Overflow developers named it the least-disliked language), and Rust (which is steadily growing in popularity according to Google Trends data).
Other technologies outside of programming languages also appeared in a number of job postings, Coding Dojo found, including SQL, .NET, Node.js, and MEAN.
