If you’re going to devote the time and resources to learning a programming language, you want assurances that language will continue to be used for years to come. That’s a key reason why many software developers and companies wait for a language to gain some momentum before integrating it into their respective tech stacks.
But which languages are holding stable, and which are losing market share? That’s a key question. Fortunately, GitHub’s annual Octoverse report has a breakdown of the top languages used on the platform over the past several years—which, given the centrality of GitHub to developers’ coding efforts, is a pretty good indicator of how languages are faring in the broader world.
As you might expect (and you can see from the chart below), JavaScript, Java and Python have held steady, while TypeScript and C# are on the rise. Meanwhile, PHP and Ruby experienced notable declines since 2014:
“JavaScript continues to reign supreme and Python held steady in the second place position over the past year in large part due to its versatility in everything from development to education to machine learning and data science,” read GitHub’s note accompanying the data. “TypeScript also held firm in fourth place year-over-year. Notably, PHP dropped from sixth to seventh place in 2022.”
Businesses are clearly interested in technology professionals who’ve learned Python, Java, and JavaScript: all three were also recently mentioned in Udemy’s “2023 Workplace Learning Trends Report” (sign-in required), an annual study that crunches data from Udemy’s enterprise learning platform, Udemy Business, and breaks down the skills most frequently consumed by clients. Fortunately, there are also lots of resources available online (in addition to formal instruction) for those who want to learn an ultra-popular language like Python.
Whatever languages you learn, make sure to keep your skills up-to-date—and that you’ve mastered the concepts necessary to succeed in a technical job interview. Sites such as Leetcode can prepare you for the types of questions that employers tend to ask when it comes to programming languages—make sure to practice.
