Most popular programming languages in 2020

Computer programming is a fairly lucrative career that is ever-evolving. Programmers have to always stay in touch with modern technologies in order to remain relevant in the job market. In this article, we will talk about the most popular programming languages in existence today, and how to keep track of the trends yourself.

Useful programming language indices

A lot of indices and metrics can be used to judge how popular a programming language is, and what are the top most popular languages. Here are a few credible sources for finding out this information.

• GitHub – GitHub is the largest online code repository in the world, hosting millions of software projects. Each year, GitHub shares statistics about the community, including what programming language was most popular across the repositories.
• Tiobe Programming Index – Tiobe is a software quality company that generates and maintains an index of the most popular programming languages in the world. This index is updated monthly using a lot of online sources.
• Indeed – Indeed.com is a very popular online job search portal, and is uses the demand for programming languages to build an index of the most popular programming languages each year.

Most popular programming languages in 2018

Here are the most popular programming languages according to these well-known indices.

1. GitHub

                                         Figure 1. Most popular programming languages on GitHub

The figure above shows some programming language trends for the past 4 years. JavaScript and Java remain the top most popular languages, followed by Python and PHP which switched places some 3 years ago. C++ has also gone up over C#, which is surprising. The most drastic change, however, is Typescript which has shot up many places in the last year thanks to Typescript-based frameworks such as Angular. Conversely, Ruby has seen a steady decline over the past few years.

2. Tiobe

                                                                             Figure 2. Tiobe Programming Language Index

Tiobe provides a broader index unlike GitHub, where only open-source projects are included. According to Tiobe, Java is still the most popular language, and the rise of C/C++ over C# once more can be seen here as well. Similarly, Python has outpaced PHP as reported by GitHub as well. However, the major highlight of this index is that Microsoft’s Visual Basic .NET is still a very popular framework. Apple’s Swift is also increasing in popularity, and is expected to rise further in the coming years.

Keeping in touch with technology

In order to understand what languages are popular, it is important to look at industry trends. In 2018, there has been an increased focus on building great web experiences using technologies such as Angular and React. But beyond that, we have new emerging technologies such as blockchain. Blockchain made the rounds last year when Bitcoin’s value skyrocketed. However, ever since the cryptocurrency’s decline, companies have been exploring ways to use the Blockchain technology for other purposes  So in the future, you can expect job posting to ask for “Blockchain developer using Java or JavaScript”.

Which programming languages do you think are the most popular and what technologies do you expect to see in the coming years? Let us know in the comments section below!