10 top Programming Languages in 2020 for Businesses
It is the combination of hardware & software that makes for most of the progress in Technology. The top programming languages are a core part of the modern & emerging technologies we see today.
Developers of the present-day deal with more programming languages than ever before. Similarly, many custom software development services companies are now working with a huge set of languages for building all different types of software applications.
And for those harnessing these programming languages for their needs, be it personal or commercial- there are myriad options to choose from. It is further difficult for businesses to find and hire programmers for their projects due to the diverse range of languages to choose from.
But for those harnessing these programming languages for their needs, be it personal or commercial- there are tons of options to choose from. It is even difficult for businesses to find and hire developers due to the diverse range of languages to choose from.
I’ve tried to find the most productive and popular programming languages for developers to learn and for businesses to leverage.
Top Programming Languages 2020
Before I list the top programming languages for developers and businesses, I would like to provide a brief overview of the research that went into its making. So here is a briefing of the parameters used for my research:
1. The highest paying top programming languages (Collected from StackOverflow Developer Survey 2019 and Indeed).
Note: The greatness of a language isn’t determined by the developer salary packages. Similarly, it doesn’t matter how much developers are paid for a particular on-demand top programming language. What matters the most, in the long run, is how developers build their skills and work on the languages they already know.
However, I have considered this metric for the research because Salaries are if not more, but as equally important as passion.
2. Preferences of developers based on Surveys from StackOverflow.
Over the past decade, the development of top programming languages is being focused more on making things easier for developers. So it is only fair that their fondness towards programming languages be used as a metric here.
3. Analysis of developer activity on GitHub (Rankings taken from GitHut 2.0 results for Q1-Q4 2019).
While there have been no updates to the first version of GitHut since Q2 2014, GitHut 2.0 offers similar value in terms of analyzing activity on GitHub. Developer activity plays a huge role in helping businesses determine the value of a particular language/framework or technology stack. Businesses keep a tab on developer activity and choose to rent a coder on this basis.
4. Google search trends worldwide from January 2019— December 2019.
Google is the best friend of every developer on the planet. So it is fair to analyse the search trends and find the programming languages developers were the most interested in this year. So based on the following parameters, the top programming languages 2020 for businesses came to be these:
- JavaScript
- Python
- Java
- Go
- Elixir
- Ruby
- Kotlin
- TypeScript
- Scala
- Clojure
1. JavaScript
- Average JavaScript Developer Salary in the US as per Indeed: $109,462 per year.
- Recognized as the most popular top programming language in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2019.
- Most popular programming language on GitHub.
- It seems that JavaScript has gone down in popularity since the past year as per data from Google trends. The language was almost at the peak score with a rating of 91 in January 2019. In December 2019, we saw a dip in popularity and JavaScript scored only 62 out of 100.
- JavaScript frameworks are tools that makes JavaScript easier and smoother. Top Js Framework of all time is AngularJs Framework.
2. Python
- Average Python Developer Salary in the US as per Indeed: $117,503 per year.
- Python is one of the top object-oriented programming languages and 2nd in the list of Most loved top programming languages as per Stack Overflow developer survey 2019.
- Also recognized as the most wanted programming language in the StackOverflow Developer survey.
- Second most active programming language on GitHub.
- Python’s popularity has significantly dipped since the beginning of 2019. As of December 2019, the language had a rating of 62/100 in Google trends, while it had reached a score of 75 in January.
3. Java
- Average Java Developer salary in the US as per Indeed: $101,929 per year.
- Java happens to be at the 10th place as one of the most dreaded programming languages in 2019.
- Third-most active top programming language on GitHub.
- Java scored a rating of 89 out of 100 in Google trends as of January 2019. In December 2019, the number dropped down to 59. This decrease could be attributed to widespread use of Python as an alternative and the intense competition between Python Vs Java.
4. C
- As per Indeed, the average salary for a C Programmer in the US is $104,905 per year.
- As per StackOverflow survey 2019, C happens to be the 4th most dreaded programming language.
- The C programming language is the 8th most active on GitHub, a position it has maintained for two years straight.
- C’s popularity reached great heights in 2019, and it maintained a consistently high user interest throughout the year. In fact, the TIOBE Index awardrd C as the most popular programming language for 2019.
5. Go
- Average Go developer salary globally: $109,483 per year. The average salary in the US for this top programming language is $136K per year.
- Go is the third-most highly paid language globally in the Stack Overflow developer survey 2019.
- The Go programming language is the fourth most active on GitHub.
- The google search popularity for Go has remained constant in 2019.
6. Swift
- The Global average salary for a Swift (iOS) developer is $59k. As per Indeed, the average salary for the same profile in the US is $125,252 per year.
- Swift is the 6th most loved programming language as per Stack Overflow developer Survey 2019.
- Swift was 10th most active programming language on GitHub for the year 2019.
- The google search popularity of Swift peaked to a score of 100 in June this year. But it maintained an otherwise consistent search volume throughout the year.
7. Ruby
- Average global salary for development on Ruby: $76k. The average salary for Ruby developers in the US is $123k.
- Ruby is the sixth most highly paid language globally as per Stack Overflow developer survey 2019.
- Ruby has maintained the 12th position throughout the year in the list of most active top programming languages in Github.
- The Ruby programming language maintained its peak popularity between January- April 2019. But it started going down since May and its user interest dropped to 57 by December.
8. Kotlin
- Average global salary for development on Kotlin: $57k. The average salary for Kotlin developers in the US is $125k.
- Although Kotlin isn’t one of the most highly paid languages as of right now, its demand as soaring thanks to Google declaring it as the official language for android app development.
- Kotlin is the 15th most active top programming language on GitHub, having risen by one rank since the last year.
- Kotlin’s popularity has mostly remained consistent this year. The user interest on this language peak during the month of May. This was possibly due to the I/O 2019 and Google’s declaration of Kotlin being used as a primary language for android app development.
9. TypeScript
- Average global salary for development on TypeScript: $60k. The average salary for
- TypeScript developers in the US is $115k.
- TypeScript is the 10th most popular top programming language as per Stack Overflow developer survey.
- The Microsoft-nurtured programming language is now the 7th most active on GitHub.
- The popularity of TypeScript as per Google search peaked for some time in June, July, October and the entire month of November in 2019. TypeScript has witnessed a remarkable rise in user interest this year.
10. Scala
- Average global salary for development on Scala: $78k. The average salary for Scala developers in the US is $143k.
- As per Stack Overflow annual developer survey 2019, Scala is the highest-paid programming language in the US, and the 4th most highly paid programming language globally.
- Scala’s popularity on GitHub has gone down in 2019. It went from being the 12th most active programming language on GitHub in 2018 to the 17th position in the past year.
- Scala’s popularity in Google search trends peaked for some time in the months of March and August. However, the user interest on Scala started going down since November 2019.
Conclusion
The world of Programming is one which keeps changing with each year. We have some top programming languages such as Java and JavaScript which have an almost eternal place in such lists. Then there are languages such as Kotlin which have risen at an astounding pace and have become one of the most in-demand programming languages to date.
This list will give you an idea of the 10 most relevant programming languages of today, and perhaps motivate developers to learn and businesses to leverage one of these. If you’re brave enough, then all of it! Such is the beauty of coding and computer programming in general. You have all the resources you’ll ever need to upgrade your strength, and all that matters is where you put your heart and how you put the knowledge into practice.
