Which is the Best Emerging Programming Language?

Did you know that there are over 8,900 programming languages?

It’s an immense and almost overwhelming number but, the truth is, you’ll only ever use a tiny portion of these. 

After all, it takes time to learn a programming language. Throughout your career, you should only really need 3-5 in your arsenal. 

However, when you want to pick up another one, it can be really hard to decide which to settle on; especially with so many at your disposal. 

This important decision isn’t helped by the fact that the popularity of each script is constantly changing.

The Changing Popularity of Programming Languages

Some of the 8,000 programming languages, like JavaScript or C++, are household names that seem like the obvious choice for you to study.

Just look at this graph.

Other programming languages lower down on the list, though, have been slowly rising in popularity. In the next few years, any one of them could become the most predominantly used script in the market.

Which Programming Language Should You Learn?

How, then, do you decide which programming language will accelerate your career and take you to the next rung on the ladder? 

Well, you need to…:

1. Speak to your current employer about their preferences.

2. Evaluate which languages would be best for the sorts of projects you work on.

3. Look at which programming languages are in high demand.

On top of this, it’d also be worth looking at the recent trends in programming languages and using this research to anticipate which will be the most useful to you.

The Recent Trends in Most-Used Programming Languages

As technology has continued to develop year after year, so have the expected requirements for coding solutions.

This means that particular programming languages have been used more than others at different points in time, forming a complicated history.

https://youtu.be/UNSoPa-XQN0

Today, scripts like Python – which has been around since the 1980s – have risen to fame and formed a strong community. 

However, other emerging programming languages such as Rust, Go, Kotlin, and Haskell shouldn’t be ignored in the decision of what to study. 

The Community’s Favourite Emerging Programming Language

To find the answer for you, we turned to our audience with one important question… what is the best emerging programming language?

The obvious winner from our poll on LinkedIn was Go, with Rust following closely behind. Kotlin was also a strong contender, securing 17% of the votes. Haskell, though, wasn’t a fan-favourite.

“Haskell is an interesting one. It's a really interesting and fun language, but the learning curve is insane,” wrote Jonathan Zeck, who had the opportunity to study it at University. 

Other engineers added OCaml, Vlang, and Dart into the mix – commenting on convenience and ease being a big priority when it came to pursuing one over another.

Our Prediction for the Best Emerging Programming Language

While Dart and Rust are certainly worthy of a mention because of their accessibility, we have to agree with the majority of the community.

Without a doubt, Go is the way forward. 

(Source: Hackerrank)

According to multiple sources, it’s the programming language that is going to be used more and more over the next few years. 

Why? Well, because it’s:

1. Open-source (making it free to learn).

2. Simple to pick up for anyone with previous experience.

3. Incredibly secure, as long it’s written properly.

4. Supportive of most operating systems.

5. Scaleable with a very small footprint for each script.

6. Easy to deploy (because of its single static binary).

Go truly ticks all the boxes. 

It will be nice to see the beneficial programming language becoming mainstream as it’s used to produce web, mobile, cloud, and networking software.

“The simplicity of Go adds up to its powerful performance. It runs faster, compiles quicker, it's easy to maintain and support, and allows for shorter software development lifecycles.” 

- Scalefocus

How to Start Learning Go

As a prerequisite to studying Go, you’ll want to have some programming experience (with proficiency in 1-2 languages) as well as access to a text editor and command terminal. 

From there, everything you need to learn it is available online, where an amazing community awaits to support you. Some of the best sources for you to use include:

• Get started with Go 

• A Tour of Go

• Go's Frequently Asked Questions 

Other than these, you’ll find that learning Go involves messing around combined with trial and error. The more fun you have with it, the better the experience will be. 

Before you know it, you’ll have another versatile programming language to add to your CV.

Taking the Next Step in Your Career

From the moment you start developing a new skill, you should be looking to take advantage of the opportunities you’ve unlocked.

As you do the work to become an expert in Go (which won’t take long), start networking with the industry recruiters at OHO.

We’ll be able to give you career advice that’s specific to you, guide you in taking that next step, and offer you a job that you’ll love.

Recruiting Through OHO 

We pride ourselves on being the meeting place where exceptional talent can connect with fantastic opportunities. We’re excited to be driving UK and US innovation. Where there’s a plan, we have the people.

We’re an established and respected consultancy that offers a range of specialist services to a broad spectrum of clients and candidates within the ecommerce, IT, electronic engineering, finance and consultancy sectors.

Contact us today and find your next big innovator through us.