The world is getting smarter every day thanks to the fast growth of things like automation, artificial intelligence, less need for people to do things by hand, etc. This, in turn, is the result of huge efforts that have been going on for a long time, as well as the impact of new technologies on daily life.

As technology improves, the number of people who know how to use programming languages goes up in a big way.

The list of popular programming languages keeps changing based on how often they are used, how many people work in that field, and how quickly that field is changing.

Top Most Popular Programming Languages

Here are the best and most common object-oriented and functional programming languages that you need to know.

#1) Java

Java stays at the top of the list of “Programming Languages” for a long time. Java has been around since 1995, when James Gosling created it. The most recent version, Java11, came out on September 25, 2018.

Its ability to work on any platform, to grow, to be secure, etc., has made this possible in the long run. Java’s object orientation, variables, and data types come from C/C++, as does its syntax, which is also influenced by C++.

Java’s popularity is mostly due to the fact that it can run on different kinds of computers, including Macintosh, Windows, Unix, Linux, and even Mainframe and mobile phones as long as they have JVM installed.

Even the most recent JVM can run Java code that was written 15 years ago. Java is also notable because it is based on objects. This makes it strong because Java objects don’t have references to data from outside Java.

With its new features, it stays at the top of the list because it is fast, can translate native code, and can manage memory.

The most important parts of the Java Language to learn are the Class Library and the Java API. Even though Java only has 50 keywords, the Java API has tens of thousands of methods in thousands of classes.

Java is a language that is worth learning, and developers prefer to learn it over other languages.

After learning this great language, you could build server-based applications, web applications, Android apps, scientific applications, apps that connect to a database, apps for the Internet of Things, apps for the cloud, etc.

Open JDK is a free, open-source implementation that makes it work on all platforms and operating systems.

Java is used most often in our daily lives, such as on Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, Amazon, and eBay, which are some of the most popular websites. Android, Kotlin, and other popular and growing technologies depend on Java.

#2) Python

Python is a high-level programming language that can be used for all kinds of programming. It first came out in 1991.

Python was made with code readability in mind and makes heavy use of whitespace. Dynamic types, automatic memory management, support for multiple programming paradigms (PO, Functional, and procedural), a large, comprehensive library of its own, etc., are all features that stand out.

Python is free, open-source software that can be run on many different operating systems. As of January 2018, it is the fourth most popular language, after Java, C, and C++. A recent study looked at scripting languages and found that they are more productive than regular languages.

Python can be built into a lot of different kinds of software, used in several Artificial Intelligence projects and the Information Security industry, and used as a scripting language for web apps.

Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, and a lot of other big companies use Python. Python is part of Libre Office, and the plan is for it to replace Java. Some parts of Go, Kotlin, Swift, and other languages were taken from Python.

Since Python, Java, and Scala are becoming more important to the Hadoop ecosystem, Python is a good alternative to Java (as the world of analytics does not have many Java programmers),

Also, our free Python tutorials will help you learn the language very well.

#3) Swift

Swift is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm, compiled programming language made by Apple Inc. for iOS, macOS, and working with Cocoa frameworks. It uses the Objective C runtime library, which lets both C and C++ run in the same programme.

Swift has core ideas like dynamic dispatch, late binding, extensible programming, and address errors like null pointer de-referencing, support for the protocol, extensibility, struts, classes, etc. Swift was the most popular programming language from 2015 to 2016.

Objective C, which is a subset of C, is used to make apps for OS X and iOS.

Swift’s entry is called “Objective C without C.” It is a good choice for developing mobile projects because it is easy to read, easy to maintain, has a safer platform, less code, less legacy, is fast, supports dynamic libraries, interactive coding, is open source, etc.

#4) Kotlin

Kotlin is a programming language with static typing that runs on the JVM and can also be turned into JS Source. It works well with the Android OS, and Google fully backs it.

One of Kotlin’s main goals is to be as fast to compile as Java. The main thing about the recent release of Kotlin was that it let people share code between the JVM and JavaScript platforms.

Kotlin is made to be an OO language that can work with Java code in every way. With the help of its functions, it can also be used for procedural programming. Some of the features that speed up the development process are protection against null pointers, extension functions, infix notation, full Java compatibility, and good IDE support.

With the help of the Kotlin library, Android UI apps can be made. It can be used as a scripting language and has an interactive shell. Google made it official that Kotlin can be used to make apps for Android. Along with Java and C++, it is the third language that Android can fully use.

#5) C

The oldest and most widely used programming language is C. C is an imperative computer programming language that can be used for a wide range of tasks. It also supports structured programming. Between 1969 and 1973, Dennis Ritchie worked on making it.

It is made to be compiled with a compiler, has low-level memory access, maps well to machine instructions, and doesn’t need much help when it’s running. Some of its best features are that it is portable and can be used in any embedded system.

It is a Universal Language because it is a portable assembly language that works well with all operating systems and has a short run time.

#6) C++

Bjarne Stroustrup made C+++ in 1979. It was based on C with Classes, which came before C. C++ is a programming language that can be used for many different things. It has programming features for imperative, object-oriented, and general programming.

Some of the best parts of its design are system programming, the ability to use it in different ways, embedded resource constraints, and how well it works with large systems.

C++ is a compiled language, which means that it can be used on many different platforms. C++ has had an effect on other programming languages, such as Java, C#, D, and so on.

With C with Classes, features like classes, derived classes, strong typing, inlining, and default arguments were added to the C compiler. It was changed to C++ by adding features like virtual functions, operator overloading, references, constants, type-safe, memory allocation, better type checking, and a stand-alone compiler.

Its main parts are direct mappings of hardware features and abstractions with no extra cost that are based on those mappings. Even though C++ is often thought to be a superset of C, this is not the case.

#7) JavaScript

JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted programming language that is dynamic, has weak types, is based on Prototype, and is interpreted. It is one of the most important technologies on the Internet. It lets you make web pages that people can interact with.

JavaScript was first used in client-side web browsers, but it is now built into a wide range of host software, including server-side web servers and run-time environments that let it work on mobile and desktop apps.

Even though it has a name that sounds like Java Language, it is not the same as Java because it is dynamic and has code that people can read.

JSON (Data Interchange Format), jQuery (Client-side HTML Scripting), Angular and Angular (Web Application Frameworks for making SPA), React (JS Library), asm.js, etc. are all languages or technologies that work with JavaScript.

W3C’s standardization of web assembly made it possible for programming languages like C, C++, Java, and JS to be used to write client-side code for the web. But JavaScript has now reached biblical heights, and experts say it’s time to go back down. And yes, they’re partly right.

Because there are so many web options, it can be hard to figure out how to use JavaScript. This is because the preferred language for client-side development and web assembly back ends are not always the same.

Conclusion

The choice or preference of a programming language depends on the needs to be met, the number of supported features/platforms, the individual’s ability to learn, and his or her interests.

Most importantly, the average salary earned by using a certain programming language in his or her field of work will be a huge factor in choosing the right language.