I want to know the hottest programming languages for 2016.
If you’re looking for the ultimate points in Apple-fandom, learn Swift so you can write code for the i-everything suite.
I thought they used Objective C.
Swift came out in 2014 or 2015 to replace it, and all future development is supposed to be in that language, so for iPad and iPhone development, you want to learn Swift.
I don’t want to learn something just for Apple development.
If you want universal, learn HTML5.
I already know HTML5.
HTML5 is radically different with cascading style sheets or CSS, embedded video that replaces Adobe Flash and map and sketch elements.
It also uses JavaScript to replace a lot of interactive features that people used to call on Java to do.
So learn JavaScript, since it is now a de facto internet standard.
PHP and Python are still used.
Java hasn’t gone away though. It still shows up in around a fifth of developer jobs and has the highest average pay rate.
That’s because it is so dang hard to learn.
JavaScript developers make on average ten percent less.
And all the kids learning JavaScript instead of French in middle school will be able to compete with me.
So learn C#.
That is way too old of a language.
It is also used on a lot of servers to run enterprise applications, it pays nearly as much as top JavaScript development, and a lot of companies like it because you write it once and then compile it uniquely for each platform.
In short, it has fewer bugs related to differences in OS because you compile it for each OS.
And when someone installs the application on a PC, it runs there whether or not you have an internet connection.
Everything is moving to the cloud these days.
Then you might as well learn Python. It is one of the big internet app and server languages, and easier to work with than PHP.
PHP still gets used.
Only through inertia because so many senior system admins learned it and still use it. That will change as more people enjoy using PHP’s simpler syntax and growing code libraries.
What do you think of Ruby?
It has gone off the rails for everything but wannabe Silicon Valley startups that switch to another language once they get big.
So don’t bother learning Ruby.
It isn’t as golden as it thinks it is. R is used less but pays way more as a developer.
Only because the math majors who use it can’t take the time out from data crunching to learn to code.