Which programming, scripting, and markup languages do developers prefer to use? Knowing the answer to that question can help tech professionals plot which languages they’ll learn next—and which they’ll avoid.
This year’s massive Stack Overflow Developer Survey asked tens of thousands of developers about the programming, scripting, and markup languages they’ve done extensive development work in over the past year, as well as which ones they want to use over the next 12 months. The resulting data makes it clear that some of the world’s oldest and most widely-used languages aren’t going anywhere soon, particularly JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Python, SQL, and TypeScript. Here’s the data:
“JavaScript has been a mainstay in the developer survey and on Stack Overflow since our first survey,” the Survey added. “The most popular programming language has been JavaScript every year we have done the survey except for 2013 and 2014, when SQL was the most popular language.”
JavaScript remains popular for everything from client-side scripting to server-side development, allowing developers to quickly build effective web pages and scalable apps. It’s also a mainstay of cross-platform development thanks to frameworks such as React Native. If you’re interested in learning JavaScript on your own, you have numerous options, including:
- Online Courses: Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and edX offer a wide range of JavaScript courses to suit different learning styles and experience levels.
- Interactive Tutorials: Websites like Codecademy, freeCodeCamp, and Khan Academy provide interactive tutorials and exercises to help you learn JavaScript step by step.
- Self-Directed Projects: The best way to learn JavaScript is by building projects. Start with small projects and gradually increase the complexity as you gain more experience.
The good thing about languages such as JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Python, and SQL is that the sheer amount of legacy code out there guarantees those languages’ relevance for quite some time to come. Although learning highly specialized skills such as machine learning can translate into massive compensation gains, knowing how to use some of the world’s most popular languages can open up tons of opportunities at multiple companies and industries.