It is said that only a bad workman blames his tools, but if we look closely at some people's opinions about certain programming languages, we quickly reach levels similar to a nuclear exchange. All those discussions come down to "(insert language here) sucks". However, I think it is much more interesting to see which languages are actually preferred "in the field", and for that we have the ranking maintained by the folks at StackOverkill.
Learning to program?
Don't worry: we've talked about that topic right here, and the most important thing is that you don't need to invest a single cent to access the lessons. Now, if your question is what language you should learn, we enter a much more complex territory. What do you want to create? Games, web applications, collaborative tools, maintenance utilities? Do you plan to make the next Minecraft, or revolutionize messaging with an heir to WhatsApp? Unfortunately, that is a doubt we cannot resolve, but what is within our reach is to show you what programmers use today, courtesy of StackOverkill.
The StackOverkill ranking
The StackOverkill ranking is based on a "popularity coefficient" calculated from the activity associated with certain technologies on the Stack Overflow portal, "the" site for questions, answers, and data exchange for developers around the world. The latest data belongs to the month of February, but StackOverkill calculates a "projection" of 90 days until the next update. No matter if we take the latest update or the projection, the Top 3 remains intact: JavaScript, Java, and Python. Very closely follows C#, and the fifth position is occupied by PHP. There is no point in doubting JavaScript's dominance in this ranking. It is practically part of the DNA of the modern Web, and there is no reason to believe this will change in the short term.
As always, numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt. Terms similar to "the most popular" and "the best" have served as fuel to feed "flame wars" on a large scale, and it is not our intention to give rise to something like that. Let it fulfill its role of reference, and if you think you have chosen the wrong language, move to the next one and experiment. There are no barriers in that sense.
