So many programming languages to learn, and so little time to learn all of them. Wikipedia lists around 700 languages that are currently in existence today, and lots more are being developed and added to the list on a daily basis. As a programmer (or a would-be programmer), your first task is to identify which of these languages would be worth your while to learn.
Below is a list of top languages that are best to learn in 2022. Do keep in mind that though a lot of these languages are interchangeable (for example, you can use either Javascript or Python in a lot of web development work), there are things that some languages are naturally good at (e.g. C# is great for enterprise work and game development, Go is for working with web applications, etcetera).
Javascript
Javascript is on the top of this list for the sole reason that it is the world’s most popular programming language. It is the “language of the web”, as most people would say. Ninety-eight percent of the world’s websites use it, and if you’re ever looking into web development- whether it’s frontend or backend development- learning Javascript is practically a must.
Java
Comparing Java to Javascript is like comparing a car to a carpet. Though they share similar names, the resemblance stops there. Javascript was actually named as such to ride on the popularity of Java. From the year it was released (1995), up to now, Java enjoys high usage because of its Write Once, Run Anywhere paradigm. This means that you can write applications once, and have it run on any platform without spending more time on development.
Kotlin
A relatively young language (it was released in 2011), Kotlin is best if you’re working in Android apps, web apps, or any other form of application development. Though it is compatible with Java, it is less code-heavy making it easy to adopt if you’re already coming at it with a little bit of Java or C# knowledge.
PHP
PHP has been the butt of jokes recently, with a lot of developers saying that it is either dead or dying. But the fact remains that it’s still being used by around 80 percent of websites and that it is the language of choice when it comes to working with databases.
Python
Python is the darling of the programming world. You can use it for almost anything- data science, web development, machine, and deep learning, game development. It has uncomplicated syntax, which means that beginners can just jump in and start programming with relative ease. It also has a strong and active community that provides advice and learning materials for those who need it, usually for free.
Go
Also known as Golang, Go is an open-source language developed by search engine giant Google. It was developed by a team that included Ken Thompson, who created the B programming language, a predecessor to the popular C programming language. As such Go is syntactically similar to C though with modern features like garbage collection, structural typing, and concurrency.
C#
C# is all about object-oriented programming. It’s OOP personified. If you ever find yourself working with the .NET framework, C# is basically your only choice for a programming language. The language was developed by Microsoft, and as such, would be a nice choice if you are into developing Windows applications.
R
R isn’t actually a general-purpose language like Python and Java are. Sure you can use it for a lot of programming tasks, but the language is specialized for working with data. It’s one of the top languages to learn if you’re into data science, data analytics, statistics, and other math-heavy work.
Ruby
Ruby is one of the best languages to learn if you’re a beginner because it has the most human-friendly syntax around. It’s a great all-around general-purpose programming language. Ruby also has a popular framework called Ruby on Rails that allows programmers to use it for web development.
Swift
If C# is for Windows, and Kotlin is for Android, then Swift is for macOS. This language was developed by Apple in 2014 to replace their old Objective-C programming language. For iOS developers, Swift is a must-learn.