I want to make it clear that this is just my opinion about which programming languages are key for me this year. This is not at all an indicator on what language you should learn or what is the most popular. Thought it may help support your current reasons for learning particular languages. New languages and frameworks come out all the time and I understand it’s not possible to learn and keep up with all of them. I admit that in the past, I cared too much about keeping up with all of these. I quickly learned that this was not efficient at all. I decided to keep dedicated and stay in the realm of 4–5 languages max. Anyways, here is my list of top 5 programming languages for 2017.
- PythonPython is incredible powerful and easy to learn. It allows for some quick development and flexibility. It can be incredibly powerful without being such a low-level language. As of late, even the CIA was using Python to perform some crazy ‘scripting’. Of course you will see that Python is still evolving. Python 3 is the future of the language, but presently Python 2 is still widely supported. Also remember that companies such as Google, IBM, Facebook, and Disney all use Python. When it comes to you career, you may want to consider learning Python.
- JavaScriptMy homeboy JavaScript, it’s been a long ride. Front-end web development is currently very popular. I myself want to continue write front-end web applications, use JavaScript on the back end to make full of use of Full-Stack development to create web. JavaScript is part of my day-to-day work and I want to continue to learn how to master the craft. This in year in particular I want to focus on mastering React JS. React is a JavaScript library for dynamic websites. It allows you to create DOM, from your JavaScript, that automatically updates to any state changes within your model. Essentially, you’re creating both the HTML and JS through React JS. Learn more here https://facebook.github.io/react/
- ROver the years, big data has become quite important and R use is growing to be incredibly popular. R is in heavy use at several of the best companies who are hiring data scientists. Google, Criteo, Facebook — who I consider to some of top companies to work for. This year I worked on a couple of projects that involved R in some way or another. I want to make sure I become more proficient in this as the year goes by.
- JavaThis was one of the first programming languages I learned to use. I must admit, I feel much further from Java at this point, but I would like to become reacquainted for many reasons. Specifically because of Android mobile app development. I know that Kotlin is a growing alternative, but I feel like that’s ways off from taking over. Java is used by most companies and of course by most Android apps including Uber, Slack, and TripAdvisor.
- SQLI feel like SQL is on this for me to maintain. I feel pretty much covered here, but wanted to make sure this is a skill I can actively maintain. To add some clarification with relational databases (also known as RDBMS). You seriously need to at least learn the basics to SQL in order to leverage RDBMS data. It’s not very difficult to learn, but it takes a long time to master. Especially when it comes to joining different data tables to pull and create very specific data. In this day an age, this is a must know for any technology/ data science focused roles.As you can see my list has a mix of both software, web, and database/data languages. I think having vast knowledge in the above will make me quite the programming ninja this year.