What is the best programming language for your project?

What are you looking for in “the right” programming language?

The first thing you should do is know your context. Define the kind of project you want to take forward and everything that surrounds it: scalability, versatility, speed, budget, maintainability… Some features are always desirable when working with a programming language as they will facilitate working with them.

The first one is simplicity, let’s not complicate ourselves! The language should be easy to understand and use, clear and simple without it compromising the overall goal.

Ideally, the chosen language should also provide capability. A robust set of features will ensure smooth running as well as the possibility of performing several tasks.

Abstraction will also be necessary to define and use complicated structures or operations while leaving aside certain low-level details.

Of course, it will need to have structure to avoid errors and to have a base to go back to when writing the code.

Efficiency is a must, to avoid both excessive memory and time consumption. Details are welcome if they bring value but if it is not that noticeable, compactness is preferred.

The most important is that it will need to fit with the answers in our following section, but those are not the only questions! Each project will have its own, and these circle around the main, most common questions that can help you approach the choice.

The only perfect programming language is the one that perfectly fits your particular needs for the project, as well as your team’s. Making them part of the choice can prove to be useful, besides saving you potential problems in the future!

Some enlightening questions to choose your ideal programming language

What environment will it need to perform in?

Before choosing you will need to know the environment for which you are developing mobile, web, desktop, data analysis, enterprise-level… Not all languages perform equally in all these environments, so you will need to find the one with the best-fitting features for your specific project and the use it is intended for.

Are there any previous experiences in the company for a similar project?

If that was the case, they might prefer the formerly used language or, in reverse, a different one that fits better, having now learned from what did not work.

Do you already have someone able to work in that language or not? If you do not, can they learn it easily or is there a learning curve? Do you need to hire someone?

Being realistic about your assets is important when making such a decision. The type of language can directly impact your staff and the needs that may arise from them, like specific pieces of training or hiring specialists with the necessary skills.

Is the language backed by a good support network? Is it updated and has it a large enough group of users?

A proper ecosystem would be one in which the language still receives support from the developers, is regularly updated and has an active community that can help when questions arise.

Maintainability is crucial as, even if it is ideal for your project, not having enough support can lead to problems later on.

Can the language integrate with third-party tools?

The generated code will need to work with other tools used by the company for a continuous workflow without constant readjustments. Before considering adopting or changing more tools, it would be wise to study the contenders’ compatibility with the current tools.

Is the language safe?

Security is non-negotiable in tech, especially when we talk about companies that work in a technological environment. Having an unreliable programming language can result in a security breach or other severe issues in the future. The severity of the limitations and restrictions will vary depending on the sensitivity of the content handled.

Is using this language within my estimated time for the project?

As we mentioned before, some languages require a steeper learning curve than others, and that will add to the amount of time spent on the project. Learning curve or not, there are also simpler or more complex programming languages that will directly impact the length of the project, without considering possible incompatibilities.

Is it scalable/do I need it to be scalable?

Some projects are tightly defined from the beginning, while some will evolve and will be open for further development in the future. This is an important consideration to keep in mind when choosing a programming language as not all programming languages are as versatile.

A myriad of programming languages

The number of programming languages out there can be overwhelming but let’s start with a list of some of the top ones and what you can expect from them. We also indicate some tasks in which they stand out, but that doesn’t mean they are the only ones they can perform.

If none of them suits your needs, you can always resort to creating your own language. Making this decision should not be taken lightly, as a new language brings a lot of challenges and obstacles like developing it, integrating the needs or the lack of a support system are just a few. The size of the project and the outcome desired will be some of the factors that will tip the balance to one option or the other.

C#

• Suitable for: enterprise applications, machine learning and data visualization.
• Highlights: it is part of the NET ecosystem and is best suited for developing applications and games on Windows.
• Downsides: if compared to other languages, it offers limited cross-platform support.

C++

• Suitable for: enterprise applications, data storage, operating system.
• Highlights: it offers a high performance due to its low-level memory management capabilities. It is ideal for system-level programming and resource-intensive tasks.
• Downsides: 
  this is a more challenging language to learn and, concerning memory management, some issues may appear.

Golang (or Go)

• Suitable for: distributed systems, website development.
• Highlights: it is perfect for cloud-based apps, besides being fast and efficient.
• Downsides: it is not as widely used as other languages, or at least, less discussed, which translates into a smaller community to turn to.

Java

• Suitable for: mobile apps, web development, enterprise applications, machine learning and data visualization, big data, data storage.
• Highlights: it is a platform-independent language and ideal for scaling enterprise apps due to how robust it is.
• Downsides: it contains more elaborate syntax and words than other programming languages do.

JavaScript

• Suitable for: mobile apps, web applications.
• Highlights: it is a language suitable for both front and back-end. There is an extensive resource net that provides users with backup and support.
• Downsides: it can lead to an increment of runtime errors due to the lack of strong typing.

PHP

• Suitable for: web applications.
• Highlights: it can be used especially on server-side scripting.
• Downsides: there are some concerns surrounding performance level and security vulnerability.

Python

• Suitable for: machine learning and data visualization, big data, data storage.
• Highlights: it is beginner-friendly, easy to learn, versatile and has a wide community to reach out to for support. Moreover, there are extensive libraries, frameworks and resources, which accelerate the development of the tool.
• Downsides: compared to low-level languages, it offers a slower performance.

Ruby

• Suitable for: web applications.
• Highlights: you can benefit from a vast collection of libraries and resources when using this bug-free focused language.
• Downsides: execution speed is slower compared to other programming languages.

Rust

• Suitable for: web applications, operating systems.
• Highlights: it offers an elevated safety level at the same time as a low-level control.
• Downsides: it has a steep learning curve and also a smaller community.

Swift

• Suitable for: mobile apps.
• Highlights: it offers a very high performance and safety for Apple platforms.
• Downsides: it is exclusive to Apple and it might need further development resources.