Since the 1950s, programmers have developed over 700 notable programming languages and with the rapid changes in the industry, more are developed almost every year. As a result, it can be hard for the aspiring programmer to decide which coding language to learn. However, I think there are three programming languages that worth learning in 2020.
The pie chart below illustrates which programming language tutorials were searched most often on Google worldwide from April 2019 to April 2020 according to the Popularity of Programming Language Index (PYPL). As noted, Python and Java were nearly half of the total searches (30.61 and 18.45%, respectively), followed by JavaScript which accounts for 7.9%. The rest of the searches (43%) include over 100 less popular languages.
To learn more about developers' interests specifically, the 2019 Stack Overflow survey is another great reference. It ranks the top 10 most popular programming, scripting, and markup languages based on the responses from 87354 developers. As depicted by the graph below, JavaScript is the most popular language for developers, favored by over 65%, unlike the Google search where Python was most popular. It’s then followed by the markup language, HTML, and the styling language, CSS. The query language, SQL, is the third most popular. In this year’s survey, Python outshined Java and other languages including C#, PHP, C++ and C.
For developers, another motivating factor to learn a new language might be how in-demand the skills are in the job market. The line chart below renders the top programming languages that are in-demand by employers based on worldwide data, provided by Indeed, which is a search engine for employment. Over the past few years, the demand for Python skills has risen significantly, followed by Java and JavaScript. The demand for JavaScript seems to have soared considerably throughout the last year. Overall, the demand for all five languages listed in the chart show a rising trend.
Source: Worldwide Jobs on indeed.com
In light of this data, to answer the question, the 3 best programming languages to learn in 2020 based on the charts provided are Python, Java and JavaScript. However, knowing what you want to achieve with the help of a certain language is just as important as learning the language. Each programming language serves a different purpose. For example, if you want to build dynamic and interactive websites, JavaScript, known as the language of the browser, is definitely the best option, whereas if you want to process and analyze big data, Python is the go-to language. If you are keen on back-end web development, Java and Python are both great choices.