Without long forewords, we simply decided to make a list of must-know and good-to-know programming languages in 2015 to help junior developers to find their path.

The list is based on the experience of Softengi developers, who face every day with new project requests and thus may judge on what is in need now in the programming world.

The list of 11 languages we decided to separate into already popular languages, which will be certainly needed in the following few years, and perspective languages, which have high chances to pop up in 2015.

POPULAR

1. Java

Java is one of the most popular languages for building back-ends for modern enterprise-web applications. And this is probably the only its advantage. With Java and frameworks based on it, web developers can build scalable web apps for a variety of users. Java is also the main language used to develop native Android apps for smartphones and tablets. Its big declared advantage is WORA – “Write once, run anywhere” principle announced by Sun Microsystems to prove Java’s cross-platform features. However, this advantage can’t cover the fact that the language is slower than others natively compiled.

2. JavaScript

Extremely popular language now among young soon-to-be developers. It’s the most suitable language if you want to create interactivity for your site, or build user interfaces with one of the dozens of popular JavaScript frameworks. Rarely to be seen beyond web browser, probably because it is the only place where it is useful. However, worth to be learnt because it has dozens of frameworks gaining popularity and because in the future it will allow to build more complex things.

3. C#

C# is worth to learn because you can easily get a programming job with it. It is the most popular language now for the development of third-party applications for Windows and very popular for mobile devices. Besides, the popular Unity game development engine also uses C# as one of its primary languages. It is quite similar to other object-oriented programming languages and is easy enough to learn if you know some C++ or Java.

4. PHP

Really good to build web apps to work with data. It is the foundation technology for powerful content management systems, like WordPress, which you can extend to make your site more powerful. It was criticized to be insecure, however the situation changed for better after 2004 update. Those looking to learn PHP should already know HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

5. C++

Being created in 1979, it is still very popular and used to build various types of applications – from games to office apps. C++ is designed for system programming and is good for developing powerful desktop software, hardware-accelerated games and memory-intensive apps on desktops, consoles and mobile devices. Among its weaknesses programmers consider it more clumsy comparing to Java.

6. Python

It is worth to learn at least because Python is a programming choice of Google and Ubuntu. But it’s not the only one good Python’s feature, among which are also its excellent readability and elegant code. It doesn’t take as much code to execute programs as other languages.

7. Ruby

The Ruby language is straightforward to learn and incredibly powerful, plus it powers tons of popular web apps around the globe. If you are fond of objects, it’s a good language for you. Its main advantage is speed. Ruby is quite similar to Python, but less “human”.

PERSPECTIVE

8. Erlang

Erlang is a functional programming language developed by Ericsson Company which is used for the development of distributed real-time systems. Its main feature is support for concurrency. It is worth learning because big banks with millions of users use Erlang for their banking systems. For example, PrivatBank, the biggest Ukrainian bank, is looking now for Erlang developers to work with their Privat24 Internet-banking system, which previously was Java-based.

9. R

Widely used to develop statistical software, but not so popular among developers. It is a recommended language to know for anyone in need of serious data analysis. It runs on all platforms and integrates with many programming languages like Java, Ruby, C++, Python. Although it is not so popular now, the situation may change for better. In January 2015 Microsoft acquired Revolution Analytics company to contribute to the further development of R.

10. Swift

The Swift programming language has captured the developers worldwide as a new, fast and easy way to develop for Apple’s Mac and iOS operating systems, comparing to Objective-C. However, it is relevant only within the Apple ecosystem. Good for Apple – bad for developer, who doesn’t want to commit exclusively to Apple, especially considering the popularity of Android. It is worth to consider if you want to contribute to the iOS world of games.

11. Go (Golang)

You’d rather find more information why Go is bad, than why it is good. A language developed by Google. So according to Google itself Go provides fundamental support for concurrent execution and communication and proposes an approach for the construction of system software on multicore machines. This language may be perspective; however we still have certain doubts regarding its future.