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What is the most used coding language?

I'm interested in studying/majoring in computer programming and I want to know what most of the professionals use as their "go to" language. I've heard that C++ is a common one because of its versatility, is this true? Thanks for any feedback and help! #computer-science #technology #computer-engineering #computer-programmer

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Jeremy’s Answer

Check out this article: http://www.codingdojo.com/blog/9-most-in-demand-programming-languages-of-2016/


It's all really a matter of opinion though.

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Hina’s Answer

It depends on what you'll do.
I do mobile app development (apps that you see on your phone) and my primary language is Java and Objective C.
Personally, I think it's relatively easy to switch between languages, so learn a few very well and you can usually pick up new ones.
For example, I think C# and Java are very similar. Objective C is weird and different, but learn a few patterns and you'll get used to it.


The tech sphere changes rapidly, so don't count on your "best" language to be the one you will use at work. I hear stories of .NET engineers not being able to find relevant careers (https://blog.expensify.com/2011/03/25/ceo-friday-why-we-dont-hire-net-programmers/).


By the way, I've personally never used C++ at work. I learned it a little bit at school.
I've talked to engineers at other companies who use Go primarily. I haven't learned Go, but it's a pretty new exciting language.


Be versatile and be willing to learn, and you'll have no problem!

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Zach’s Answer

Consider this.. Each coding language is like a tool. Each tool is good at somethings and not so good at others. To make your life easier as a programmer its good to know how to use as many tools as possible. The more tools you know how to use the more streamlined you can make complex programs. Saving each tool to be used to its advantage.


Make sense?

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Nicole’s Answer

Hi Sam T. I see that you posted this question a little while ago so I hope my answer to you (or others who may read this response) is still helpful.

I agree with the combo of answers you have gotten so far. Specifically, what you plan to do will drive what coding language is the best to use. It is also true that it is good to consider coding languages as tools to build. What you build will be driven by the coding language you use. It is also possible that what you need to build can't be done in one specific coding language but can be done more effectively using a different language.

I can tell you that I have learned at least 7 different coding languages. I only learned one of these coding languages in school. As I write this response, in the year 2020, the question for me hasn't been "what is the most used coding language"..it has been what new language can I learn in order to be effective at my work. In 2020, Java and Python are popular languages. Depending on your level of interest, there may be other tools that utilize lower level coding languages AND that don't actually require users to do line by line coding. Some of these tools have what is known as "front end GUIs" which is another way of saying point and click. These types of point and click tools are still important to learn, sometimes help to make results come out faster and serve as good starters to understand what the underlying code is (or isn't) doing. Knowing what your tools can or can't do is a large part of learning in the coding space.

Hope you find this information helpful and best of luck!
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Richard’s Answer

C++ is a difficult language. True, it is powerful and is very expressive. That makes it difficult to master. The C language that forms the basis for C++ is much easier to master and can often produce faster, more compact code. Learning it gives you a sound basis to understand C++ . If you start with C, I have one tip. You can compile C code using a C++ compiler. That will give you a heads-up on the stronger object type checking in C++ .

I think the basis of your question implies that you want to find a language that will be the most useful to you in your career. The answer to that is that depending on your area of work. For typical large projects you will work with a team and may not be able to choose the language(s) to use. If you know the area you in which you are interested, you can ask around for the languages they use.

As to "goto" languages, the most fun--in my opinion--are interpreted or "Just In Time" (JIT) compiled languages. One reason is that they give the ability to do rapid prototyping and debugging.

I would recommend checking out the following interpreted languages: python, bash shell, and JavaScript. Avoid perl, which I consider a write-only language. That is, it is hard to read perl code written by others.

For JIT languages, Java and Golang come to mind. Scala is a fun language for scalable applications (it runs "on top" of Java).

Richard recommends the following next steps:

To find out what language would be most useful for your career, decide what kind of company for which you plan to work. Below is a link that claims to list the top "Popular" languages of 2021 . It also includes some pointer on what languages are used by various types of companies: https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/most-popular-programming-languages/
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