When we look at the roles of the developers who responded, most of them said they’re working as web developers: In short: web development is the single biggest area for the respondents of the survey, followed by mobile development (19%). C is a great way to learn how computers actually work in terms of memory management, and is useful in high-performance computing. … New tools keep appearing and they can quickly gain momentum in the job market. You can click through and use these right in your browser: If you keep jumping from language to language, you won’t get far. Thank you for your support! Back-end developers (or server-side developers) take care of everything that’s happening in the background. The teacher who founded freeCodeCamp.org. On the other hand, we see a decrease in relative search popularity for Java, C, and PHP. Because at the end of the day, you can learn any language you want and get a job in the future. Which programming language should I learn first? But you can get into trouble. As of 2016, pretty much all development is web development. But what about the people who want to learn how to code? If you’re trying to decide which programming language to learn first, the first step is understanding what a program language is in the first place. Not only will learning all three maximize your employment prospects and opportunities to interact with other data scientists, it will also allow you to take advantage of the different strengths of each of these languages and always select the best language for the job. When you’re just starting out, one of the biggest questions on your mind is probably this: “What programming language should I learn?”. The syntax of Javascript is quite easy to learn and you can start using this programming language … The good news is, once you’ve learned the underlying logic for one language, it’s often easier to apply that knowledge to a new language. Universities have traditionally taught programming under the umbrella of computer science, which itself is often seen as an extension of mathematics, or tie-in to an electrical engineering degree. Related: 14 Popular Programming Languages and Their Uses Explained. My short answer is Python and Javascript.. Javascript Javascript is the programming language that is powering the web. Even in academia. Beginner’s Guide, 6 Hacks to Maximize Productivity as a Remote Web Developer, 12 Essential Advantages of Python (Why Learn Python in 2020), How to Land Your First Entry-Level Software Developer Role, The Best Way to Learn Web Development in 2020: The Ultimate Guide, 17 JavaScript Projects You Can Build to Perfect Your Coding Skills, How to Choose the Best Coding Project? To get a more objective view on which programming language to learn, we’ll go through five helpful factors you can consider: Let’s look at each of these in more detail. ), Related: 5 Simple Reasons Why Python Is a Great First Programming Language to Learn. The bottom line is: Whatever area you’re interested in, make sure you can find work in your area. How did some specializations and programming languages gain (or lose) in popularity? 814 comments. However, don’t spend too much time with this question when you’re just starting out with coding. Until I found Python, which was so much fun to work with – thanks to this book. If you plan on building a career in data science, then ideally, you should learn all three of Python, R and SQL. This article is here to help you get a better overview of your options when you’re thinking about which programming language to learn. That being said, the best way to figure out what are the most popular programming languages is to look at what developers are using. Keep this in mind when things get more difficult and you start feeling like coding isn’t your thing after all. After all, … However, if you are looking to make the transition to data science, and want to land your first data science r… In this post, I’ll share with you a handful of practical steps for which programming language to learn. And when you decide which programming language to learn first, make sure you practice a lot. The outlook for those mobile development jobs is hard to forecast. You should be using that time practicing and building your own programs instead. And it’s often a good idea to use them to get a rough idea about current trends. The most important thing is that you find one that you actually like working with. Thus, it becomes easier to find help and support online while you’re learning. And the truth is: skilled developers are some of the most in-demand and highest-paid employees out there. You can replace Java with C++ and Python to Ruby in this list but honestly, there … Here are the top 20 programming languages in November 2020 according to the TIOBE Index (updated monthly): Again, we see similar results in the top 10 programming languages: All in all, we tend to see much of the same programming languages listed in these surveys. And on top of this, JavaScript is growing faster than any other popular language. Therefore, it’s difficult to draw any objective or solid conclusions from them. When you’re done with this post, you should know which ones make the most sense for you to learn first. which programming language should I learn first? Thus, even though we will look at a few factors you can consider while choosing a language to learn, you won’t find a straightforward answer to your questions in this post. We’ll probably search for something like: Few questions are so commonly asked that they get the full infographic treatment. The first programming language you learn will likely be the hardest to learn. And even if you don’t know any of these languages yet, don’t worry. Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use and recommend. And new web comics. What programming language should I learn first? Related: How to Make Money Coding? Let’s explore those factors I mentioned earlier. Our mission: to help people learn to code for free. But a good alternative is to look at what’s happened in the past. Then your second language will be much, much easier. So, now you can decide which programming language you want to learn. how to start learning to code the right way from absolute scratch, these websites to start learning for free, 13 Easy Tips for Finishing Every Coding Course You Start. Here’s a short overview of where some of the most popular and best programming languages in back-end development are used: Recommended: What Does a Web Developer Do Exactly? Learn how I taught myself tech skills and became a web dev entrepreneur here. If you choose to purchase using these links, I may receive a small commission for referring you. The best part: You can find a job in pretty much any industry, too. 5 Smart Criteria for Beginners, What Is Coding? Even though a nice paycheck makes life easier, what matters more is that you enjoy working with the language you choose. Java is important if you want to work at large tech companies. Another common source for programming language popularity is the TIOBE Index. Did you find a few helpful points? Here are just a few areas you could specialize in: Front-end developers create the visible parts of web-based projects. freeCodeCamp's open source curriculum has helped more than 40,000 people get jobs as developers. Use it to find ideas that can help you choose your first programming language. JavaScript is a close second. And department chairs generally stay the course, pointing to annual programming language leaderboards like the TIOBE Index, or this one from the IEEE: Most of these leaderboards look virtually identical to how they were 10 years ago. To narrow it down a bit, here are the most common Google searches related to learning programming, over the past 12 years: Python has gradually risen to become the most popular choice. Just start small and write simple programs that focus on solving one specific issue. I know this topic is somewhat sensitive in the tech community and people have strong opinions about the best programming languages to learn. You don’t need to go for the most popular or widespread language out there. Tweet a thanks, Learn to code for free. Here’s an overview of which programming, scripting and markup languages the 47,184 respondents to Stack Overflow’s 2020 survey were using: The majority of all respondents use front-end languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Let’s go back to the 2020 survey from Stack Overflow. Which Programming Language Should I Learn? And come join me on Pinterest and Twitter! This resemblance to a human language makes them easier to write and maintain. They are tools you should know how to use as part of your job. Just make sure you can create something useful with it and find out if there’s demand for it in the area you want to work in. If you have to spend hours online trying to find a solution to a coding problem, it’s a waste of your time. It’s vital to front-end web development and increasingly relevant for back-end development. With dozens of options to choose from and heaps of contradicting opinions within the community, how can you know which programming language to learn first? Luckily, you can find helpful tutorials and online courses for all of the most popular programming languages nowadays. Finding a straightforward answer to “What programming language should I learn” is very hard. For iOS development, you should learn Swift and Objective-C, while Android developers use Java. Get your FREE copy with 15 time-saving tips for learning coding more easily to achieve your goals faster! This is where JavaScript really shines. They are just starting to take off globally with solid future prospects. JavaScript’s ecosystem also benefits from a heavy investment of money and engineering talent from companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Netflix. If you want to get into the mobile application then there is a different programming language as compared to machine language. But please, only buy products you believe will help you achieve your goals faster. One of the most straightforward yet most versatile programming languages you can … Related: The Best Resources for Learning Python Online for Beginners. Start by figuring out why you want to learn how to code in the first place. Because of JavaScript’s ubiquity, Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood coined his now-famous law: And with each passing month, Atwood’s Law holds strong. However, there’s no such thing as “the best programming language”. And when you start doing research on the most popular programming languages, things just get more difficult. Let’s compare the top 10 programming languages from earlier according to their search volumes. As for the most popular programming languages on the list, we see familiar faces like: These are all powerful and popular programming languages used for different purposes as we saw above when we looked at the different areas you can specialize in with coding. It’s so easy to overthink how to make the best decision – but it can be easier than you think. Whether you consider them programming languages or not (technically HTML is a markup language and CSS is a style sheet language), you need to learn these, and you should … The whole point with learning popular languages is that they have a couple of big advantages: First, when things don’t go the way you plan, you’ll find help more easily. Python suffers from much the same problems: By contrast, here are some apps that members of our open source community built in their browsers on CodePen. That’s going to help you learn how to code faster, becoming confident and skilled enough to get that first developer job you want! You’ll soon start feeling more familiar with them. If you can’t find anything online, don’t hesitate to contact them directly with your question. Just remember that HTML and CSS are markup languages rather than programming languages. Mostly Facebook, Google Maps, and handful of others. Therefore, if you’re not learning how to code just for the fun of it, this should be an interesting point to consider. True, sometimes you only have one or two languages to choose from if you want to build something very specific. We also have thousands of freeCodeCamp study groups around the world. Before I talk about these programming languages, let me clarify: Let’s kick things off by exploring how programming is currently taught in school. How to Start Learning How to Code? Thus, don’t be scared away by the number of choices you have. So you should consider the following factors: Every year brings new programming languages, and with them, new academic papers. If you’re learning to program purely out of intellectual curiosity, feel free to skip this factor. If you want to create your own mobile app for Android or iOS, you can choose a programming language suitable for the platform of your choice. share. P.S. 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