If you are a complete newborn in the programming world and decide to start your web project not knowing which language to choose, we got your back. Let’s start from the top. Using programming, a computer receives a set of instructions to execute. It is like cooking a pie with a recipe. In the recipe, the author instructs you with the steps to read and follow in order to get a pie. The more detailed instructions you give, the more complex result you will get. And programming languages provide developers with a series of symbols to write instructions for computers to follow.
There is an incredible number of programming languages, more than 700 actually, to choose from. With so many options, it can be hard to make the right choice for your web project. Even though some programming languages may look alike from the start, each of them acts differently. So when choosing a language to write your future project, focus on language’s tools, libraries, and additional features. Otherwise, you may ask a custom software development company to advise you on the best-suited tech stack considering your project requirements and business needs.
To make it easier for you, we have compiled a list of the best programming languages and their common uses.
Best Programming Languages for Web Development
If you want to know what the top programming languages are, just Google it, and you will be surprised how many surveys are there naming different options as the best based on various criteria.
For example, the TIOBE Programming Community forms its list according to the number of third-party vendors and software engineers who use a language. IEEE Spectrum ranking synthesizes 12 metrics from 10 sources; they cover contexts that include the volume of results found on Google, the number of new repositories created in the year of survey for each language on Github, the demand for different programming languages using job sites, and others. The PYPL index is generated based on the frequency with which language tutorials are googled.
Developers who want to keep up with the times and constantly improve their programming skills in accordance with the market demand often turn to these indexes. But when it comes to business owners, they steer clear of rankings and don’t know the best languages for web development.
In this article, we have compiled a list of the most popular programming languages among our web developers, taking into account indexes and rankings provided by authoritative platforms.
Python
Python is the fastest-growing programming language. The main reason for this is its beginner-friendliness. Python relies on common expressions and whitespace, allowing you to write significantly less code than some other languages like Java or C++. It also offers a vast collection of standard libraries that enables you to access much pre-written code, cutting your web development time from hours to minutes. It makes the work of developers comparatively easier and more efficient.
Python can be used for building almost anything. Although it really shines when working with technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Internet of Things, etc. At the same time, Python is widely used and very much suitable for backend web development.
This programming language offers many web-oriented frameworks that help developers create functional apps. For example, Flask, CherryPy, Pyramid, Pyramid, Django, and web2py.
Django is the most popular one. It offers tools for building web apps faster and with less code. It assists developers in adding main website components like authentication, admin panels, and data structures and file processing and allows them to focus on creating custom components.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a high-level multi-paradigm programming language that serves as the world’s top frontend programming language for the web and is used by 97.5% of all websites. It handles all the interactions offered by the web pages like pop-ups, alerts, events, and many more like them. JavaScript allows developers to build web applications, both frontend, and backend, as well as mobile applications.
Speaking of which, it’s worth mentioning that JavaScript has a large number of frameworks and libraries for web and app development. For instance, you can use React or Angular for the frontend and Node.js for the backend. React Native is used for mobile development on various platforms.
Angular is a TypeScript-based, entirely open-source JS framework for web development. It is suitable for both individuals building their first startup and corporations whose goal is to produce a market-leading app. Angular provides a modular structure with high-quality ready-made templates and components formed into separate buckets. Due to this, they are easy to scale and replace.
React is a free and open-source frontend JavaScript library that is used for creating user interfaces with components. Because websites built on React are rendered on the server side, it makes them very compatible with search engines and increases search engine rankings.
Node.js is not a framework or a library. It is a runtime environment running on the V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js perfectly works for real-time web applications employing push technology over web sockets. Node.js is based on the request-response paradigm; it means that the client and server can trigger communication from their side and exchange data freely.
Java
Java is an object-oriented programming language for building backend enterprise-scale web applications. Using it, developers can create objects that cover functions and data, which can be later used to ensure applications’ structure.
Developers choose Java because of its garbage collection capabilities, downward compatibility, and its portableness. Java websites are very secure and can handle extensive amounts of data. Therefore, companies from the finance and banking sector give their preference to Java.
Frameworks for web development include Spring, Grails, Struts, Hibernate, Play, etc. Spring is the most potent framework due to its ability to build complex high-performing web applications. It has many modules for creating web apps, and Spring Boot and Spring MVC are the most popular.
Go
Go, also known as Golang, is a top-tier statically typed programming language by Google. It supports multithreading and concurrency. Another advantage of Go is its extensive “vocabulary.” It means that more information can be displayed compared to other programming languages. Golang has clear syntax, which makes the language easy to learn. It also has the garbage collection feature to manage automatic memory.
Go provides developers with a comprehensive standard library with a range of inbuilt functions to create scalable and secure web applications. Among the most popular Golang frameworks are gin, beego, echo, kit, fasthttp, etc.
PHP
PHP is a dynamic, server-side scripting side language that allows the creation of functional web applications. It is still among top programming languages in 2021. You can say that the language is dead but look at the usage statistics. PHP is still used to create 8 out of 10 websites, and it has not given up ground over the years.
It is possible to create content management systems (WordPress is made on PHP) and online database systems, message boards, registration systems, etc., using PHP. It is partially an object-oriented language. Because of it, code may be reused and, thus, it saves efforts and time needed by developers for custom web application development. It means that PHP has great customization potential if you decide to make a web project for your specific business requirements from scratch. PHP also provides quick data processing and smooth integration with different CMSs. As a result, this language is well suitable for dynamic web pages.
The most popular PHP framework is Laravel. It is a toolkit with a set of features that increases the speed of web application development. With it, developers can get the most out of caching, session management, and authentication. It takes a lot of groundwork from developers by easing common tasks used in most web projects.
We have reviewed five of the most popular programming languages but do not forget that there are more than 700 programming languages and these five may not suit everyone. While considering what programming language to choose, take into account the size and complexity of the web application, extensibility, time, money, and team available. All projects are unique and require different tech stacks, so keep to current trends and current needs in order to choose the best programming language for your web project.
