The 14 most loved programming languages, according to a study of 65,000 developers

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Rosalie ChanMay 30, 2020, 18:55 IST
The 14 most loved programming languages, according to a study of 65,000 developers

Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

  • Stack Overflow, a popular Q&A site for developers, surveyed 65,000 users about the programming languages they use and if they're interested in continuing to develop with them.
  • Using those responses, Stack Overflow compiled a list of the "most loved" programming languages.
  • This survey was conducted in February, before the coronavirus pandemic was declared an outbreak in March.

While developers don't always get to choose what they write code in, there are certain programming languages that they feel especially drawn to and want to go back to again and again.

Stack Overflow, a popular Q&A site for developers with over 50 million monthly unique visitors just released its annual survey where it asks over 65,000 developers about themselves and their programming habits. It then used this data to compile a list of the programming languages that developers love the most.

To determine the winners, Stack Overflow asked developers which languages they're developing with the most and if they're interested in continuing to develop with them.

Notably, this survey was conducted in February, before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic. Different routines and challenges around remote work may have affected developers' choices, but we'll just have to wait until the next survey to see how, if at all.

For now, here are the "most loved" programming languages, according to Stack Overflow, in descending order:

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14. Scala

14. Scala
Wikimedia Commons

Scala, which is short for Scalable Language, was first developed by German computer science Martin Odersky in 2001.

It's used by many developers of Java, an older and very popular programming language.

Scala is known as a concise language that developers use to make their applications more reliable and scalable. It's also associated with the highest salaries: Scala developers make an average of $76,000 globally and $150,000 in the US, according to the Stack Overflow survey (all median salaries in this piece via the survey).

13. HTML/CSS

13. HTML/CSS
Getty Images/Hiraman

While developers use HTML for the content of webpages and web applications, they use CSS to design the layout, like how different elements of a page are displayed together.

They're nearly always used together and learning them is considered a great way to get started in web development

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12. Bash/Shell/PowerShell

12. Bash/Shell/PowerShell
Flickr/Bill Sutton

Bash, Shell, and PowerShell all help computers interpret commands, like for file manipulation, program execution, and printing text.

PowerShell was developed by Microsoft and works with Microsoft's .NET tools. Bash is a free software project from the GNU Operating System.

11. SQL

11. SQL
Flickr/francescomucio

SQL stands for Structured Query Language, and it's essentially used to communicate with databases and access, manipulate, and retrieve data.

Developers use SQL to analyze data for making decisions in strategy, marketing, operations, and more.

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10. JavaScript

10. JavaScript
A little JavaScript code. Dmitry Baranovskiy via Flickr

JavaScript, originally designed by Brenden Eich while at Netscape, is the most popular programming languages and one of the most loved, too, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey.

It's used for building websites and web applications, to make them more dynamic and interactive, and is thus frequently used with HTML and CSS.

9. Swift

9. Swift
Taylor Swift attends the premiere of "Miss Americana" at the Eccles Theater during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) Associated Press

Apple launched the Swift programming language in 2014, and it has since become one of the fastest languages out there.

Swift makes it easier to build iOS apps on mobile and desktop, and it's becoming more common for AI applications as well. Uber, Airbnb, Square, the meditation app Calm, and some 500,000 other apps on the App Store are at least partially written in Swift.

Swift developers also make a median salary of $58,000 globally and $125,000 in the US.

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8. C#

8. C#
A sharp note. Wikimedia Commons

C# was developed by Microsoft and can be used for building Windows applications, websites, database applications, development tools, compilers, and more.

It's derived from the older programming languages C and C++, but with added features that make it more modern and simple to use. It also shares traits with Java.

7. Dart

7. Dart
Wikimedia Commons

Google created Dart as a way for developers to design fast, high-performance apps that work on any platform.

It's also the fastest growing programming language, according to Microsoft's GitHub.

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6. Julia

6. Julia
Actress Julia Roberts holds the Golden Globe statuette she won for her role in "Pretty Woman," backstage at the 47th annual Golden Globe Awards show in Los Angeles, Calif., on January 20, 1990. AP

Julia was designed to be a fast, high-level, dynamic programming language to use for scientific and numerical computing applications.

It can be used for data visualizations, data science, and machine learning, among other things. As for the name: "There's no good reason, really," one of its creators once said in an interview.

5. Go

5. Go
YouTube/nature video

Google engineers developed the programming language Go in 2007 and launched it in 2009. It's modeled after older programming language C and is used to build simple and reliable software. Go is used in many of Google's own production systems.

Go jumped up five places this year: moving from the 10th most loved programming language in 2019 to the 5th now. It's also one of the highest paid programming languages, with developers reporting a median salary of $74,000 globally and $140,000 in the US.

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4. Kotlin

4. Kotlin
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Kotlin, which was developed by the software tools company JetBrains, helps developers write Android apps faster and in a more productive way.

It's similar to the older programming language Java, but it's more modern and requires writing less code. It also has features that help developers avoid common programming mistakes.

Kotlin developers make a median salary of $130,000 in the US.

3. Python

3. Python
FILE- In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019 file photo, a 14-foot, 95-pound, female Burmese python is held tightly by wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek after he captured it in Naples, Fla. The Super Bowl committee and Florida environmental officials launched a contest on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, for hunters to kill Burmese pythons, which are decimating the Everglades. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) Associated Press

Python is one of the most widely used programming languages today because it's powerful, easy to read, and easy to use. Major companies like Google, Pinterest, Instagram, and Dropbox all love it.

It's used not only by software engineers, but also analysts, data scientists, and machine learning researchers.

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2. TypeScript

2. TypeScript
StepanPopov/Shutterstock

TypeScript was developed by Microsoft and it's a superset of JavaScript, meaning that it has additional tools and features.

It's considered better for building larger projects.

1. Rust

1. Rust
Dave Mosher/Business Insider

Mozilla developed Rust as a fast, reliable programming language that's efficient with its memory and is known as safe, since it prevents many bugs. Today, it's used in web services like Firefox, Dropbox, and Cloudflare, and is considered a top choice for hardware.

Rust has taken the top spot as the most loved programming language for the fifth year in a row. It's associated with high-paying salaries, too: Rust developers report a median pay of $74,000 globally and $130,00o in the US.

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