Ending a year and beginning a new one naturally creates a time of inward thought and outward consideration within us. We ponder our lives and recall the year that has passed, while mentally planning for the year ahead. This includes many aspects of our lives. Both personal and professional. As far as the personal stuff goes, you’re mostly on your own (though let me just give a couple of quick pointers: stay hydrated, get enough sleep and exercise, call your parents, read a book on a topic that interests you from cover to cover).
As for the professional aspect of your life, we can offer some more direct information. We are Torc after all, this is our bread and butter.
If you are a developer or aspiring developer who is gearing up for the year ahead with plans to learn a programming language to land a new job, or just because you want to broaden your knowledge and add to your vocabulary, we’re here to give some pointers.
Whatever your reasons for seeking further knowledge are, we believe these programming languages will be popular in 2024, act accordingly:
Learning your first language:
There are several abundantly used languages that already occupy a massive part of the wider vernacular. They will continue their prominence in the near future. This includes:
- Javascript
- HTML/CSS
- Python
Most programmers already use at least one of these languages, possibly two, maybe even all three. Those who don’t use more than one probably don’t need the other two in their specific line of work. If you’re not a web dev for example, JavaScript may not be all that useful to you.
So you may not need to know all three of these languages, but you almost certainly need at least one. If you’re an aspiring programmer, start with one of these three. How do you pick which one? Well, it depends on what exactly you want to program. Spend some time considering what it is exactly that draws you into the world of development. What do you want to build? What do you want to accomplish? Figuring out a path before picking a starting language may be a more efficient entry point than diving straight in with little thought. The beauty of programming is the sheer amount of free resources that exist on the web. Check out YouTube and Reddit. Check-in regularly on Torc for our weekly blog posts. Sign up for our newsletter. Engage with all the available information that is freely accessible to you.
Learning a second language:
If you’ve learned one of the above three, you’ll want to extend your vocabulary and pick up another language. Here are some good options:
Go (Golang)
Designed by Google, Go is a newer language than the three previously mentioned. It is a high-performance language and will teach you some skills that you won’t need to learn when studying JavaScript or Python, helping to round your abilities out a bit more. Go is more focused on back end, being specifically designed for building cloud services, back-end services, infrastructure, etc. Learning Go will help you gain a better understanding of pointers, references, threading, and concurrency. It will also show you the difference between dynamically typed languages (Python and JavaScript) and statically typed languages (Go)
Rust
If you’re building a performance-critical application, such as a game engine or operating system, Rust is a reliable, safe, and secure option. Much like Go, learning Rust it is also a good way to fill some of the gaps in your knowledge, as it will teach you things you would likely not have learned from Python or JavaScript. Highly recommended if you are interested in using concurrency. Rust’s memory safety and lack of a garbage collector is a large part of its appeal.
Swift/Kotlin
If you’re interested in learning to build mobile apps, Swift and Kotlin are your best options. Swift is specifically for IOS usage, while Kotlin is for developing for Android. Java can be used for Android too, but Kotlin is the way to go in 2024.
Ruby
Ruby’s robust Rails framework, in combination with its elegant syntax, makes it an excellent language to learn for web development. It is conventionally designed and uncomplicated to use, making development and maintenance quick and easy.
C#
A valuable language to learn for development in the Microsoft ecosystem, C# powers game development with Unity, as well as Windows applications.
SQL (Structured Query Language)
If you work with databases or have any intention to enter that niche, SQL is the language to learn. SQL proficiency is mandatory for anyone interested in database development or administration.
AI development:
AI is the specter that is now haunting the tech industry. Some developers fear they will one day become obsolete because of the advent of AI. While others welcome the emergence of powerful AI tools such as Chat GPT, which they find will only make their jobs easier. One way to lessen your fears about AI, should you have any, would be to gain an interest in AI development. You can’t be rendered obsolete by artificial intelligence if you’re the one deciding how intelligent it actually gets to be, right?
If you want to focus on AI development, consider these languages, some of which we’ve already discussed, and you may already know:
Python
Python’s general-purpose nature lends itself to AI’s development needs, such as deep learning, computer vision, and machine learning. Python is already such a widely used language, making it a prime candidate for development in a newly vital industry.
Java
Java’s device-agnostic nature, being able to run on a wide variety of devices such as medical machinery and gaming consoles, as well as computers of course, makes it a prime candidate for AI development. AI has a history of Java utilization, having been programmed on Java since the 90’s.
Haskell
A lesser-known programming language, Haskell is a general-purpose programming language that can be used for handling inconsistent data, and in developing machine learning systems.
R
Much like Haskell and Python, R is useful when applied to machine learning use-cases, such as sentiment analysis, image recognition, and language processing.
No matter what your intentions, interests, ideas or plans are, there is a programming language out there for you. Happy learning, and remember to always try and use the knowledge you gain to make the world a better place.
