Software Languages

Top Programming Languages

A recent survey of the most used Software Languages, also known as the Top Programming Languages,  has revealed what most would have guessed as to the most popular Software Development Languages in use. The survey was published on IEEE Spectrum and usefully allows you to look at the statistics for four types of software development in any combination you want to. The categories used for the breakdown of the statistics are:

 

  • Web
  • Mobile
  • Enterprise
  • Embedded

Web Development Languages

The most popular Web Development Language was Java followed by Python, C# and PHP. I was surprised that Python ranked so highly. I understand the Google use it but hadn’t realised it had become so prevalent. So I learnt something new from that part. This is one of the advantages of being part of the professional body like IEEE. The world we live keeps changing and expanding and this is one way to stay up with those changes.

 

Mobile Software Development

For Mobile Software Development the winner was again Java with C, C++ and C# coming next. So here we are still very C oriented even on the most modern platform around. And of course Java is also very C like in its structure having been developed to address some system level issues such as memory management and garbage collection that C requires you to handle manually.

 

Enterprise Software Development

Enterprise Software Development sees Java again a the winner with C, C++, Python and C# coming next. Again Python is higher than I expected but the rest makes sense. Given that this area represents one of the core infrastructure requirements of modern scale-able companies it is interesting to see how narrow we still are with the Software Languages we use.

 

Embedded Software Development

And finally to the world we mostly deal with, Embedded Software Development. The clear winner here is C followed by C++ and Assembler. I took a snapshot of the complete rankings. Embedded C remains the primary language for software development in embedded systems.

 

Top Programming Languages - an IEEE published survey

Top Programming Languages

 

The overall winner was Java when you take all 4 categories into account and that isn’t hard to accept given Java was the Top Programming Language in 3 of the 4 categories. So if you are thinking about what Software Languages you should learn, it depends on where you want to work and what you want to work on. For Embedded Software Development, it is still C and C++. For everything else, Java is core with C, C++, C# and Python all playing a part.

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2014 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd