How to choose a programming language
By: Sergi Navarro
Tags: JavaScript, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Programming, C Sharp Programming

So you have either decided to start learning programming or complementing your current knowledge with another programming language.

This is a very important moment because you are going to invest lots of hours, effort and maybe even financial resources, so you want to make sure you take the right step. You want to make sure you get it right!

It’s a choice that might seem difficult, there are at least 700 recognised programming languages, how are we supposed to chose?

Well, in order to make tat decision we need to take a look at our priorities. There are a number of questions that are going to help us filter that many programming languages and end up finding “the one”.

Here are the 4 questions that will help you decide which programming language is the right one for you. The order doesn’t matter, try to answer them all!

What do I want to do?

Plain and simple. What is your goal? Building a website? Creating an app for iOS? Find a job as a Back-End Engineer?

The answer to this question will help you eliminate many languages that are not the best for your main goal.

Plain and simple. What is your goal? Building a website? Creating an app for iOS? Find a job as a Back-End Engineer? The answer to this question will help you eliminate many languages that are not the best for your main goal. How much time do I want to commit to it?

Let’s be honest, some languages are more difficult to learn than others. Syntax, community support, resources, pre-built functions and so many more things that might make a language easier or more difficult to learn.

Think about how much time do you want to dedicate to it and then look at the average statistics to learn that programming language to see if it fits your timing requirements (realistic ones, of course!).

Let’s be honest, some languages are more difficult to learn than others. Syntax, community support, resources, pre-built functions and so many more things that might make a language easier or more difficult to learn. Think about how much time do you want to dedicate to it and then look at the average statistics to learn that programming language to see if it fits your timing requirements (realistic ones, of course!). What do I know?

Your previous knowledge could have a big impact on this decisions. If you already know programming, picking up another language will be much easier than if you are just starting. If you know C, picking up C++ will be easier than learning JavaScript.

Your previous knowledge could have a big impact on this decisions. If you already know programming, picking up another language will be much easier than if you are just starting. If you know C, picking up C++ will be easier than learning JavaScript. What’s in it for me?

Let’s say you are only learning to build a project. Would that justify 100 hours of practicing? Maybe also take a look at which industries use it, how many jobs require that programming language in your area, average salaries and popularity. Since you are putting quite an effort into it, you might want to have a long-term and substantial reward.

After answering this questions, you can start googling programming languages based on what you want and clearer results will come up (i.e. “Popular programming language Front-End development”, and then take a look at the results and compare salaries, popularity, resources etc.)

If you are interested in the bigger picture, here is a list of the most popular programming languages, the percentage of people switching towards them and their ratings.

Don’t rush this decision, make sure that you have a clear goal, that you are interested enough and you know where you are heading to. In Computer Science is always better to spend time researching and planning than jumping into conclusions!