Top 8 Programming Languages for Web Development

Top 8 Programming Languages for Web Development

With the development of technology and its wide applicability, programming languages have become an integral part of our lives. It is a set of rules written in any language (C++, C, Java, Python) that people use to make applications on PCs or mobile devices or just for websites.

In this article, we will discuss the features, uses, cons, and pros of the top eight programming languages for web development. There are thousands of programming languages out there but we’ve narrowed it down to the top eight that should be on your radar when it comes to programming.

By the end of this article, you will be able to have a better understanding of these programming languages.

The Most In-Demand Programming Languages

1)    Python

Written, edited, maintained, and supported by volunteers as well as experts from the software development community, Python is an open-source language that’s easy to learn and use. It’s one of the most popular languages found on GitHub; a platform used for web development by beginners and established software developers alike. That’s because it’s so simple, especially when compared to other programming languages.

It has also proven useful in dealing with numbers as data science alongside backend web app development work. An exclusive collection of standard libraries makes this programming language one of the top choices for developers. 

Applications:

  • Data science 
  • Back end development 
  • App development

Advantages:

  • Backed by dynamic typing capacity, Python makes it easier for developers to create complex websites that need frequent changes. 
  •  It is a well-organized web development language that combines efficiency with several programming languages like C#, Java, and C. It can be linked with favored web development frameworks like Flask and Django for the creation of the web-based application.  
  •  Python is a high-level programming language that is easy to learn and developer-friendly. It is very easy to code in python language. 
  • Python offers a rich set of functions and modules to ensure that you don’t have to code for every small thing. It has a large standard library for unit-testing, web browsing, regular expressions to name a few. 

Disadvantages:

  • As we discussed above Python is a dynamically-typed and interpreted language, line-by-line code implementation leads to slow execution. 
  •  Python language utilizes large amounts of memory. Low memory optimization while building applications is one of its major disadvantages. 
  •  As Python language is not memory efficient and has slow execution, we don’t see Python on mobile or client-side applications. Python is weak in Mobile Computing whereas it is widely used in server-side programming. 

2) Java 

 Java was created in 1991 by James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton and was first named ‘Oak’. The language was inspired by languages like C and C++. One of Java’s most notable features is that it runs on the principle of ‘Writing Once, Run Anywhere’ – it is designed with portability for varying hardware and OS configurations in mind. 

Java is also what powers Android applications, it’s the programming language for installing and developing software on your computer.  It’s also worth mentioning that there are a variety of libraries in Java that make all the applications we use every day possible! These include the Spring Framework, JUnit, and the Hibernate Object Relational Mapper (ORM).

Applications:

  • E-commerce 
  • Finance
  • App development

Advantages:

  • It works on various platforms (Mac, Windows, Raspberry Pi, Linux, etc.)
  • Java is open-source and free
  • It has extensive community support (millions of developers)
  • Java is close to C# and C++. Programmers can easily switch to Java or vice versa
  • Java gives a clear structure to programs and allows the reusing of codes, thereby lowering development costs

Disadvantages:

  •  Slow and has poor performance compared to languages like C or C++
  • Java consumes more memory
  • Java offers not so attractive look and feel of GUI
  •  No backup facility
  • Requires significantly large memory space

3) JavaScript

According to Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Survey, JavaScript is the widely accredited and most used programming language across the globe. JavaScript is used to manipulate web pages and make them do things their creators may not have originally intended.

By combining JavaScript with HTML and CSS, programmers can create highly-interactive websites with cool features like animated graphics, interactive maps, clickable buttons, and more. Utilizing these three languages together empowers coders to take control of a website’s behavior and capabilities while also providing users with a smoother user experience overall.

Applications:

  • Game development
  • Web development
  •  Building web servers 
  •  Mobile apps 

Advantages:

  • Client-side JavaScript is super quick as it can be run instantly within the client-side browser. Unless there’s a need for outside resources, JavaScript is unimpeded by network calls to a backend server. 
  • It is relatively simple to learn and implement
  •  JavaScript is highly interoperable as it plays well with other languages and is widely used in a variety of applications.
  • Gives the capacity to create rich interfaces

Disadvantages:

  •  Since the JavaScript code is viewable to the user, others may use it for malicious purposes. 
  • JavaScript is interpreted differently in different browsers this makes it difficult to read and write cross-browser code.
  • The code is always visible to everyone, anyone can view JavaScript code.

4) Kotlin

Kotlin is an all-purpose programming language developed in 2011 by JetBrains, that has built world-class IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, PhpStorm, Appcode, etc. It’s a statically typed language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and a general-purpose language.

Kotlin is widely used for Android development. One of the best things about it according to developers is that by utilizing Kotlin, you’ll be able to achieve greater levels of safety and concision as well as make your code more fun and readable. 

Applications:

  •  Android development
  • Back-end web development
  • Full-stack web development
  • Multi-platform mobile development

Advantages:

  • It is crisp and to the point. You’ll be able to save a lot of time otherwise spent writing boilerplate code in Java.
  • Sometimes, adding features to a language means it has more overhead, which can lower its performance. Kotlin has no runtime overhead.
  • Kotlin can easily handle nulls. If you have not prepared for a null, it can crash a program in Java. However, if you just add a simple operator to variables that may be null to avert crashes.
  •  It can run on multiple platforms that’s why it is easier to use Kotlin to build cross-platform apps.  
  •  It can be easily maintained as it is assisted by several IDEs including Android Studio and other SDK tools. Owing to this, it can easily maximize the developer’s productivity. 

Disadvantages:

  • Although Kotlin is in high demand and popularity across the developer’s community still very experienced experts are available in the field. 
  •  In some cases like performing incremental builds, Kotlin works faster than Java. But, Java stays incomparable when it’s about creating clean builds for android apps.
  •  Though the number of Android app developers who have learned and mastered Kotlin is increasing almost every day, there remains a limited number of resources available in the market to learn the language. 

5) R

R is an open-source programming language that can be used as a forward-thinking tool for analyzing and manipulating data. R is developed by the R Development Core team and is easily available on popular platforms like Windows, Linux, and macOS.

It’s built on top of S, another implementation of the S language, which was designed years ago in New Zealand. Also, the latest edition includes lexical scoping semantics inspired by Scheme. It allows users to conduct advanced analytics on their data sets with ease when compared to older tools that were often far more time-consuming to use.

Applications:

R is used among data miners and statisticians for data analysis and developing statistical software.

Advantages:

  •  It has a rich set of resources. R has over 10,000 resources in the CRAN repository which are constantly growing. R provides resources for data science and machine learning operations
  •  R is a cross-platform programming language, meaning that it can be run on any operating system. These include Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other Unix platforms.
  • R allows Data Scientists to do machine learning tasks like classification and regression, which are used for creating artificial neural networks

Disadvantages:

  • In R, objects are stored in physical memory which differs from other programming languages like Python. This limits R’s capability to deal with Big Data because it requires a large amount of data to be held entirely in one location which is in the memory.
  • R programming is much slower than other languages such as Python, especially when it comes to responding with packages. The R programming language is also harder as algorithms are spread across different packages and programmers not familiarized with packages may find it hard to implement algorithms.

6) PHP

 PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world thanks to its convenience, popularity, and performance. But what many people don’t know about PHP is that its development cycle supports the use of a lot of handy tools making it even more efficient.

It comes as no surprise then that this continues to be on the rise considering that PHP combines both simplicity and functionality thanks to how easily accessible it is on platforms such as Linux. Combined with the recognition of the programming language Index (PYPL), PHP is the fifth hottest coding language globally.

Applications:

  • Content Management System
  • Web-based applications and development of sites
  • Processing of Images
  • Graphical interface design-based applications.
  • Developing the features of Flash

Advantages:

  •  It is more stable from a few years with the assistance of providing continuous support to various versions.
  •  It helps in reusing an equivalent code and no got has to have to write lengthy code and sophisticated structure for the event of web applications. 
  • The popularity of PHP gave rise to the various community of developers, a fraction of which may be potential candidates for hire. 
  • Flexibility makes PHP ready to effectively combine with many other programming languages so that the software package could use the foremost effective technology for every particular feature.

Disadvantages:

  • PHP is not that secure as it is open-source. Not suitable for bigger website applications that are content-based.
  • Its weak type can cause incorrect knowledge and data to the user.
  • PHP is known for its poor quality of handling errors. PHP comes with a very fewer number of debugging tools when it comes to other programming languages. 
  • It is not competent modular thus highly tough to manage. It imitates the features of the Jawa programming language.

7) C++

 C++ is a language ranked 4th in popularity according to the TIOBE index. It’s one of the standard languages for back-end development, and it requires very few skills to learn. Its syntax is simple enough that coding in C++ can be done by anyone who wants to get started with programming languages.

Many coders prefer C++ because it has many uses and compatibility with multiple platforms, making it easy for programmers from any background or experience level to use when needed. C++ is a powerful programming language that can be used to develop operating systems, create browsers, and more. 

 Applications:

  • Operating Systems like Microsoft Windows or Mac OSX or Linux 
  • Browsers
  • Banking Applications
  • Libraries
  • Graphics
  •  Embedded Systems
  • Cloud/Distributed Systems
  • Databases

Advantages:

  • C++ is a program design language that’s pragmatic and academically oriented. The programming language makes use of high-level abstractions to represent specific concerns in the matter domain.
  • It is easier to use than other low-level languages like binary coding. C++ takes up more space but it’s much easier to understand and learn, too!
  • All C++ programs must start with the main function for them to run and perform their functions.  As it’s a classic programming language. This type of computer program often consists of a collection of commands that tell the computer to try and do “something.” These types of files are typically called C++ ASCII text files. 
  • C++ program supports inline function, C++ supports exception handling, its pointer and references, C++ uses “cin” and “cout”.

Disadvantages:

  • C++ doesn’t support Dynamic Memory Allocation, Garbage Pickup, and threads built-in.
  • One of the primary reasons why C++ is still considered so effective and robust when it comes to writing programs is because it supports pointers. Arrays, instead, don’t handle memory allocation as efficiently for example. Nonetheless, pointers can also be a major turnoff for some programmers due to their capacity to create problems such as crashes or unexpected behavior in code.

8) Dart

Dart is used in multi-platform applications like JavaScript, which is useful to build applications that can be operated on any electronic gadget. Google’s Dart programming language today is within the Flutter framework and is a great choice for developing mobile apps because of its many features and open doors.

In contrast, Facebook’s React Native has increasingly become a better option as time goes on and has proved to have many benefits compared to traditional ways of using native code to create mobile apps. Dart is simpler to master than JavaScript, and it makes certain complicated concepts less complex. Because Dart has plenty of competition like TypeScript, the programming market is lucky to have many options for choosing a language.

Applications:

  • Used to build server and desktop applications
  • Client development, such as for the web and mobile apps
  • Actively used with Flutter for developing the frontend of cross-platform mobile apps

Advantages:

  • Dart is easy to learn. JavaScript programmers will easily be able to pick up the basics and write code in this language due to its similarity in syntax. To do so they simply need to familiarize themselves with the language’s core principles.
  •  Since Google is the programmer for Dart, all of the features of the language are given in detail. This allows you to get answers to almost any questions that may arise during or after programming.
  •  Programs written in Dart tend to run faster than programs created in JavaScript.
  •  One can build production quality real-time applications with Dart. It is very stable and the language supports programming that defines objects and classes, enforces interfaces, and supposes optional typing mechanisms.
  • Dart has the unique ability to handle both Just in time compiling and Ahead of time. In AOT, the Dart code can be converted directly into native machine code whereas in the mode of JIT, it is compiled for exceptionally fast development cycles and game-changing workflow.

Disadvantages:

  •  Dart currently has very limited resources online and it’s difficult to find solutions to problems. The reason for this is the lack of a larger developer community, which will support you whenever you want or need help with anything at all.
  • The Dart framework is currently in development. Developing in Dart now has the chance of API changes or things like documentation not being perfect. The amount of information on the web about dart (compared to jQuery) is lesser than expected.
  • Dart lacks native support in browsers. For developers to be successful with Dart, they must provide native support for it in all browsers. 

Conclusion

As the Software Development industry progresses, so do the coding languages that are being used. It is important to stay up to date on the most popular languages to remain competitive and prosperous in this industry. If you are looking to make a career as a programmer, learn a new language, or work in product support or development, then you should learn these programming languages. They have been proven time and time again to be some of the best in their field when it comes to versatility and quality of code.

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