Discussion: What is the best programming language to learn in 2024?
Miguel Teheran

Miguel Teheran @mteheran

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Discussion: What is the best programming language to learn in 2024?

Publish Date: Jan 3 '24
37 33

A new year is starting and the relevance and demand for programming languages continue to shift. As we delve into 2024, certain programming languages stand out, offering a great opportunity to improve our knowledge and career.

In this discussion, we aim to dissect this question by analyzing the ecosystem of programming languages that hold promise in 2024.

Taking into account the market, the threading technologies and job opportunities here my top 8 list:

  1. Rust
  2. Go
  3. JavaScript
  4. Python
  5. C#
  6. Java
  7. Elixir
  8. Kotlin

Share your list in the comment and let's discuss

Comments 33 total

  • Judy
    JudyJan 4, 2024

    esProc SPL

  • Ranjan Dailata
    Ranjan DailataJan 4, 2024

    JavaScript is the Master of All :) That said, Typescript is inclusive.

    • J.Has12
      J.Has12Jan 4, 2024

      yes

    • Miguel Teheran
      Miguel TeheranJan 4, 2024

      All the technologies around JavaScript are great. They have a lot of opportunities.

  • André Buck
    André BuckJan 4, 2024

    Hard to find a clear no. one 🤔
    I think Javascript is the most versatile and still getting a wider stage to work on - even Oracle put it inside their new 23c database.
    For DevOps it’s maybe still Phython or GO!?
    And for solid software and processes development I am interested in Rust a lot.

    But that’s all from my very personal perspective …

  • Tharaka Sandaruwan
    Tharaka SandaruwanJan 4, 2024

    I think Typescript and Mojo should be included in the list.

  • Isaac Adam
    Isaac AdamJan 4, 2024

    What about C++?

  • Marius from Norway
    Marius from NorwayJan 4, 2024

    Why learn JavaScript when TypeScript exists? Not rooting for any particular language, just geniunely curious!

    • Miguel Teheran
      Miguel TeheranJan 4, 2024

      There are many projects that do not use TypeScript at this moment. This is a feeling that many managers have about TypeScript, and it's important to work with both technologies. I am currently working with React.js without TypeScript

  • 𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️
    𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 4, 2024

    The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?
    The same procedure as every year, James.

    I don't really have a singular #1; I'd go with a combination of Lua and Zig.

    While Zig is relatively new, neither of them is a particularly 2024 language. I just think they're both really good languages and together cover a very broad spectrum from low-level programming close to the hardware to much higher-level programming and scripting.

    • Miguel Teheran
      Miguel TeheranJan 4, 2024

      But since this is a new programming what about job opportunities?

  • Ben Halpern
    Ben HalpernJan 4, 2024

    I think Python might win for its ubiquity in ML/AI circles and likelihood to get support in this arena.

    Lots of ways to take this question and reasons that might not apply but that’s my first instinct.

    • Brian G.
      Brian G.Jan 4, 2024

      Agree 100%. Though many companies will be leveraging AI models, not building models from scratch. So Python may not become top this year, but gain on JS.

  • Saumya Sura
    Saumya SuraJan 4, 2024

    i think kotlin

  • Prayson Wilfred Daniel
    Prayson Wilfred DanielJan 4, 2024

    It depends 🫣. Are you in ML/AI? Are you building cloud native tools? Are you into IoT?

    For me, I will bet Rust and Python as dominating the next wave due to the increase interest in Generative AI.

    As a data scientist, I feel like Alice. Always chasing the rabit

    chasing

  • Diego Hernandez
    Diego HernandezJan 4, 2024

    I think golang is a solid option most jobs nowdays ask for current knowledge

  • Brian G.
    Brian G.Jan 4, 2024

    JavaScript is still the most widely used going into this year, according to Stack Overflow. Python is incredibly hot on the job market and probably continuing to rise this year. But I think JavaScript remains at the top because it's entrenched and it still provides the best overall ecosystem for quickly launching and growing a software startups.

    C# and Java are dark horses because they're so strong in enterprise use cases. Not likely to overtake, but will continue to be strong. Decent candidate languages to learn for those interested in enterprise software development.

    I think Rust and Go are still too niche to rise to the top. Definitely growing but probably not at the rate of Python given the acceleration of ML/AI (as @ben pointed out). But either would be a great option to learn if you already know JS and Python.

  • Alain D'Ettorre
    Alain D'EttorreJan 5, 2024

    The big names are JavaScript/TypeScript and Python, then come Java and C# and these 4 combined make up for the vast majority of the market.

    However, people who are eager to learn a new language and ask for advice usually already know or work with one of the aforementioned top 4. In that case, I'd suggest Go without a doubt, it's the best "still niche" language to learn by far, because

    • It's simple
    • It's powerful
    • It has a standard library
    • With only ~20 keywords and almost no magic, you clearly see what's going on in large and/or foreign code bases
    • It provides guaranteed stability across versions (go.dev/doc/go1compat)
    • It scales both up (cloud services) and down (small projects, CLIs, embedded) seamlessly
    • It has an amazing developer experience, since the single package you install from the official website already provides subcommands for building, testing, benchmarking, formatting, documenting, generating code, managing dependencies, checking race conditions and more: no more guessing which library to use to have some core feature or which coding style to follow
  • salieu Gbla
    salieu GblaJan 6, 2024

    JavaScript is the cost time effective of All :) and Typescript is inclusive.

  • codingjlu
    codingjluJan 7, 2024

    Best in terms of usage or user experience?

  • Dmitry Esin
    Dmitry EsinJan 7, 2024

    Elixir might be useful to be able to find a project in a less crowded programming language that has a bright future (an alternative tech stack that is less overcrowded and has a good future outlook)

  • Mazureanu Grigorian
    Mazureanu GrigorianJan 10, 2024

    I think Swift should be right next to kotlin. Like Kotlin/Swift depending on what you want

    • Miguel Teheran
      Miguel TeheranJan 12, 2024

      Can we use Swift for something different than iOS?

  • Stephen Dicks
    Stephen DicksJan 11, 2024

    Purely for learning, Elm has to be my #1. Statically typed, functional, runs in the browser. Can't ask for much more IMHO

  • Miguel Teheran
    Miguel TeheranJan 12, 2024

    JavaScript is definitely essential.

  • Danny Engelman
    Danny EngelmanJan 13, 2024

    Stupid choose-a-tool click-bait post

    • If I need to eat soup I use a fork,
    • fajitas I eat with a spoon,
    • and potato mash with my hands
  • Subhasish G
    Subhasish GJan 20, 2024

    The enterprise is ruled by only 1 programming language. Have been working on a lot of old, legacy migrations to Cloud in some of the largest orgs globally - all of them are end-to-end Java houses. And within Java, SpringBoot and Reactive Programming is the most in-demand... will be around and relevant and ruling the Enterprise space for many many many years to come... at least for the natural duration of our lives.

    I would then put C#, and later Python.
    Go and Rust etc. are good to know... not relevant till anything is widely accepted by the Enterprise.

  • Camilo
    CamiloFeb 12, 2024
    • Elixir for Machine Learning
    • Elixir for Concurrent Backend
    • Elixir for Serverless
    • Elixir for IOT
    • Elixir for Mobile Apps
    • Elixir for React.js replacement
    • Elixir for Jupyter Notebook peplacement
    • Elixir is awesome

    Elixir is a swiss knife :)

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