Every programmer needs to reinforce and expand their skills, but before investing time, money, and effort, it's also wise to adopt a strategy. Is it worth focusing on popular languages, or is a more exotic option preferable? One of the main references for determining this is the ranking of languages published by IEEE Spectrum. That ranking is interactive, and its filters allow us to extract even more precise data without too much hassle.
Knowing how to program is a goal many users aspire to, especially in this time of pandemic, quarantines, and remote work. But the first step is always the most complex, and it also installs a fundamental doubt: under which language? Which of them enables the greatest number of opportunities, or has a faster job outlook? The popularity percentages for the main languages remain relatively stable, however, there is never a lack of an extraordinary situation (say, the search for COBOL experts) that could lead to great benefits.
The Most Popular Programming Languages of 2020
For those who want an additional reference, the folks at IEEE Spectrum publish an interactive list with the most popular programming languages. The results are calculated from eleven parameters combining eight different sources (CareerBuilder, GitHub, Google, Hacker News, IEEE, Reddit, Stack Overflow, and Twitter), but we can activate secondary filters. For example, if you're only interested in languages that show the most growth, click on 'Trending'. The 'Open' button prioritizes popular languages in open source development channels, and 'Jobs' focuses on job demand.
At the top of the list is none other than Python, but a second reading is necessary here. IEEE Spectrum explains in a parallel article that Python's numbers are 'inflated' due to its use as a teaching language. In other words, Python would be something similar to 'the BASIC of our era', although there are a large number of professionals and high-profile projects that depend on it. The presence of 'Arduino' as a language also requires analysis. From a technical point of view, Arduino hardware is programmed with a derivative of Wiring, which in turn is a derivative of C/C++... but everyone searches for 'Arduino code' or 'Arduino programming'.
Python, Java, C, C++, JavaScript. The Top 5 is familiar, predictable even, but if we must mention a 'surprise', it is probably R, a language used in statistical analysis and data mining. IEEE Spectrum places it in sixth position, while the TIOBE index registers it at position 8. Reasons? One of them points to COVID-19 and the search for its vaccine, which demands an immense amount of statistics and data processing.
Official site: Click here
