Did you know that there are approximately 6500 spoken languages in the world? We bet that number is more than you would have guessed. Now have you ever wondered – how many programming and coding languages?
The answer might also surprise you.
Wikipedia claims there are approximately 700 programming languages, while others say that number is closer to 9000! The truth is, there’ve been countless programming languages created throughout history. But like spoken languages, there’s a hierarchy of computer languages based on their prevalence and usage.
If you’re new to the world of IT, then you’re probably wondering – what is a programming language? Languages in computer science are kind of similar to spoken languages. When we speak to each other, we use language to communicate our thoughts and actions.
The same goes for a programming language. They are a means of communicationthat humans use to instruct computers to perform tasks and actions. Here’s a definition by Webopedia if you’re still unclear:
“A programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer or computing device to perform specific tasks.”
Programmers utilize coding syntax to create software programs which then perform specific tasks. Coding syntax is the concept of providing specific word sets in particular orders for computers to do what humans tell them to do. Coding syntax is the basis for any programming language.
Source: Unsplash – Markus Spike
What are the most popular programming languages?
High-level languages
High-level programming languages use syntax that is similar to the English language. These languages are considered ‘higher’ because they are closer to human language and therefore easier to understand by programmers. Some of the most well-known high-level languages include Java and Python. These languages are used to develop computer programs, and web, desktop, and mobile applications. C and C++ are languages that, although still considered high-level, are considered lower-level than other languages like Python.
Most common languages in computer science have third-party libraries and frameworks. Frameworks provide solutions for complex tasks and thus significantly accelerate the development of complex systems. One of the popular frameworks for Python is Django. This is used for creating Django-based web applications and websites, as opposed to HTML or JavaScript, which make up the majority of websites. An example Django website that is well known, would be Pinterest, or Instagram.
Check out how to screenJava skills.
JavScript is the top programming language in terms of popularity going into 2023. Primarily due to its popularity in backend Node.js development as well as front-end web development, more software engineers choose to use JavaScript than any of the other modern languages. Depending on the source, the list of the other most popular languages usually consists of Python, TypeScript, PHP and Java.
Python’s popularity increases year-on-year because it is a fairly easy language to pick up. It is also one of the most versatile, being used by many web developers, making it one of the best languages to learn when a computer programmer is just starting their programming career.
Low-level languages
Low-level programming languages are used to write programs that relate specifically to the architecture and hardware of a computer. These languages can be broken down into two categories: machine language e assembly language.
Assembly languages are useful because it’s very complicated to write programs in a machine language. That’s why assembly programs are used. An assembly program is converted into a machine language using an assembler. But, to write an assembly program, a developer must have extensive knowledge of computer architecture. These languages can be used to develop operating systems and device drivers.
How many programming languages are there?
It’s hard to provide a definitive answer to this question because new languages go in and out of existence all the time, so there might be a young language that isn’t widely known yet. Instead, we’ve put together a list of resources. The lists vary significantly in size, demonstrating not only how many are in existence, but more importantly, how many of them are relevant (more on that later).
Source: Pexels – Miguel Á
Coding languages list
TIOBE: 150 languages
The TIOBE Programming Community index started tracking 25 coding languages back in 1991. These days, the index measures more than 150 languages with ratings each month. The ratings are based on the opinion of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, third-party vendors as well as popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube, and Baidu.
Wikipedia: 700 languages
The online encyclopedia lists more than 700 computer languages alphabetically. This coding languages list aims to ‘include all notable programming languages in existence’. Of course, information from Wikipedia is subjective, but their list still offers an interesting insight into how many different programming languages there are in the world.
GitHub
GitHub is a software development platform with over 40 million users. Each year they release their annual ‘State of the Octoverse Report’ that looks back on the past year with interesting takeaways and statistics. The most recent reported; “in 2019, developers collaborated in more than 370 primary programming languages on GitHub”.
FOLDOC: 1000 languages
