The demand for a particular profession has never been as visible as today. Programmers are maybe the most searched for on the job market. During the past couple of years, the number of job positions available in the field of software development was bigger than ever, which led to an expansion of the industry as a whole. The IT industry suffered many changes lately, and most of them emerge because of the rapid technological advancements that the entire world must keep up with. The famous Marc Andreessen said at some point that software is eating the world, and his premonitions become true. The entire economy of the world started to turn into a software-based one instead of hardware-based, as it used to be in the past.
Products and services that were usually accessed through physical means are now delivered in the online environment, using software services. This shift has a double nature: economic and technological. The progressive world we live in is highly influenced by people who work in software development. Every tiny bit of code influences the software product of tomorrow. Because of the automation wave hits strong in 2019, writing code suffered some changes. There are programming languages which offer better functions, that offer exactly what the new generation of software development teams need to improve the world we live in. Here’s what’s new:
Python beats them all
Python gained recognition among software developers lately, and it seems to be the top choice of all IT companies. Considering the requirements of Industry 4.0, finding a programming language that is extensive enough to allow developers to get innovative was a must. Python comes with a great benefit that affected the job market visibly in the past years – it is easy to learn compared to other programming languages. Beginners can catch up with everything about Python in less time than they would normally invest in mastering another language. The second benefit of Python comes from the large community around it.
In a world where everything can be found on the Internet, a large community is a sweet escape from issues and obstacles that may appear along the way. The Phyton community is large enough to cover all questions and dilemmas that people may have when they code using this language. Web Development and Python go hand in hand, which makes it a favorite among developers and designers, especially because of the simple syntax it features. At a business enterprise level, Python is the top choice for ERP development, which could help small to big firms handle their inventories and operations in a much more effective manner.
Kotlin might replace Java
Kotlin is a relatively new programming language that Java users tend to switch to at the moment. The language was developed by JetBrains, the team of developers behind IntelliJ and other IDEs. Software developers that were previously working with Java can simply continue their projects using Kotlin, as it is interoperable with it. Kotlin projects can be compiled to JavaScript, but there is also an environment to check out – the JVM. Kotlin solves several problems that developers still encounter with Java, which is quite convenient for the IT sector at the moment. There is basically no reason why people shouldn’t choose Kotlin over Java, but the only downside is the programming language’s newness.
Because it is a new language, Kotlin doesn’t feature a large community that is there to help people whenever they encounter an issue. The community is relatively inexistent, but this is a temporary problem, taking into account how many people stated that they would switch from Java to Kotlin soon. Moreover, Kotlin opens many doors for developers that want to go further with their projects and step aside from what is already existent on the IT market. Of course, this is just an assumption, but Kotlin might be the star of 2019, immediately after Python.
Rust might be safer than C++
Not many developers know about Rust. Even though many people might have heard about it in the past, not a lot of them opt for Rust. This programming language is quite promising, contrary to the belief that less-known languages won’t do the job. Rust was developed by the experts at Mozilla, and since people are dipping into it to see whether it deserves a shot or not, some unexpected opinions emerged. Software developers that gave Rust a chance stated that it might be safer than C/C++. This is a bold affirmation to make, but the management tool that Rust comes with is definitely a huge reason to try this programming language. Rust is just as promising as Ruby, another language that seems to be in focus in 2019.
Rust has one downside: it is difficult to learn. This is probably the reason behind its unpopularity among software programmers. On the other hand, some say that is better than many other languages out there, not to mention how secure it is. Rust is not the only programming language that offers a lot in exchange for more effort, but software developers lack the most important resource among all – time. This is why they tend to choose easy syntax programming languages such as Python instead. If you search for “IT companies near me”, you will notice that most of them prefer Python over other programming languages, even though the software developers can handle any other language as well. It is just a matter of preference and requirements.
PHP still remains in the top
One of the few programming languages that still maintains its good position in 2019 is PHP. The open source scripting language is different because of the server code execution, as well as the HTML integration. Developers can configure their web servers to process HTML that includes PHP lines of code, without letting other users know what is the structure behind the code. PHP maintains its position mainly because of its extreme simplicity, which makes it perfect for any beginner who wants to dive into the world of coding. At the same time, PHP has the needed features that a professional programmer would need to come up with quality, powerful software products.
