PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES - THE FUTURE
By: Edsp Re
Tags: JavaScript, Python, Programming Languages, R, C Language

There are thousands of programming languages in existence with more languages created every year. Among these incredible number of programing language, only a small fraction are the most popular in use today.

Wikipedia has listed about 700 programming languages known in existence. Other sources even estimated a total of up to 25,000 with more being developed. Given the vast number of programming languages and how quickly new languages are being developed, it is a complex and herculean task to compare programming languages.

Nevertheless, a source listed 50 programming languages as the most popular programming languages in use today and I will be working with only the top 10 languages including the c, Java, Python, c++, c#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, PHP, R, SQL. This article is going to present the trends of top Programming Languages which will continue, even in the coming years.

To predict the trend of the programming language in 2020, this article uses charts from authentic surveys and various collected statistics. This article will help the new programming learners, to make a choice on the programming language to learn and likewise, help experts decide on either to switch to another language or to continue with their expertise language.

LET’S GO DOWN MEMORY LANE…

To see the bigger picture, it is important to go back in history lane and see how far these languages have come and their positions in previous years in terms of in-demand, popularity, most loved, and salary. Below, I have presented two tables that summarize the top 10 Programming Languages in the last decade. The data used in the chart are taken from StackOverflow survey and TIOBE Index:

Chart 2 Source: www.Tiobe.com

Observations:

Chart 1 shows a decrease in the popularity of all languages for the last five years (that is, 2015 to 2019) except Python.

Chart 2 indicates that the leading language is the c language and followed by Java. It is also observed that python has come a long way in the last two decades (from being 23rd in 2000 to 3rd in 2020) maintaining an increase in trend.

In terms of In-Demand

Among the programming language that is most sought-after, is the Python language. StackOverflow reveals in 2019, that Python is the most wanted in Jobs searches. In the same vein, In 2017, Forbes released an article highlighting the five most sought-after languages in America including Python, Java, JavaScript, C+, PHP; with Python being the most sought-after. The same year in December, TIOBE Index released a chart showing the most demanded programming language with Java topping the list and c following. Python took the 4th position.

In Terms of Popularity

In 2019, the PYPL Index and TIOBE Index placed Python as one of the most popular programming languages. While the PYPL Index placed Python in the first position, the TIOBE index has placed c/c++ in the first position, following Java and Python as the 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the survey by Stack Overflow, JavaScript is regarded as the most commonly used programming language in seven rows. But Python has also risen, edging out Java, c#, and PHP, and has a claim to being the fastest-growing major programming language.

Source: Most popular Programming Language

In Terms of Most Loved

According to the StackOverflow survey, Python has consistently risen in the last five years (that is, from being the 10th most loved languages in 2015 to being the second most loved programming language (after Rust) in 2019).

Source: Most Loved Programming Language (StackOverflow Survey 2019)

In Terms of Top Paying Salary

StackOverflow in 2019, released the highest paying programming to be Clojure, F#, Elixir, and Rust. However, among the popular programming only R and Python is seen to have made it to the first twelve. More so, Python has gradually increased from not being on the list of the highest paying language in 2015 to being included in 2019 and still maintaining its position.

THE TREND NOW…

Popularity in 2020

Most Loved in 2020

Highest Paying in 2020

Observation:

As can be seen in the TIOBE and PYPL graph above, the Python program shows a remarkable rise by an average of 10percent between 2010 and 2020. Just recently, TIOBE announced that Python is probably going to win the title ‘language of the year’ for the fourth time in 2020, which is a record in the history of the TIOBE index. Similarly, in the IEEE chart, Python has risen and maintained the top position compared to other languages.

Likewise, based on StackOverflow survery on the highest paid, python has risen from being the 12th position in 2019 to being the 10th position in 2020, edging out other popular programming languages.

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS…

Based on the chart data in the previous section, we can predict what the future holds for programming languages. Moreover, StackOverflow which is known to be the most popular question and answer platform can be a source for future predictions. In 2017, StackOverflow released an article based on the traffic question asked on its platform. In the article, it was predicted that by 2020, Python would be at the top of the list (see graph below).

In another article, the future trend of programming languages' popularity was predicted. The prediction is based on the fraction of the total questions asked on StackOverflow which concern each language for the last 10 years. It was predicted that by 2023, Python will be leading as the most popular programming language.

CONCLUSION

Based on the data and survey results from reliable sources, based on past, present, and future analysis; we can tell the future of the popular programming languages. While C, c#, Java, and JavaScript has been considered the most popular and the “Lingua franca” of the internet for many years, Python could outstrip them of this title in the coming years. This is because Python has come a long way in the last two decades and has maintained a reasonable increase in trend. Other reasons include:

cost-effectiveness,

easiness to use, read, and maintain

Compatibility with major platforms … and so on

Overall, Python will continue to increase in popularity while JavaScript and c maintain their popularity trend. On the other hand, Java, c#, c++ could lose in popularity significantly, while PHP, R, SQL, and Visual Basic may become obsolete.

So I would like to get your opinion on this. Which programming language do think will continue in the future?