But if you remember the past, it turns out that programming languages have a huge history. There have been many notable events in their history that have had a major impact on the industry. For example, C and Java, some of the oldest programming languages, are still widely used today. But if you ask about their popularity, it turns out that now they are not in the highest positions.
I am a programmer. I really like JavaScript (I have an "eternal connection" with this language, so to speak), I have been writing in this language for a long time. But if you look around a bit, you will notice that there are other languages in the world of software development. I suggest thinking about what is best for server-side development in 2021: JavaScript, Python, or Go. But before talking about the strengths of each of these languages, let's take a look at some of the research findings.
Research results and other data
▍Stack Overflow Research
The annual Stack Overflow research is the largest event in existence, aimed at studying the views of programmers on various issues related to modern technology. More than 90,000 programmers took part in it in 2019 . Based on its results, we can conclude that Python is the leader among programming languages. And the second and third places, respectively, are occupied by JavaScript and Go. But this, let me remind you, is a 2019 study. A lot can change in a year. For example, Go is a language that is evolving very quickly and is constantly growing in popularity. I think that in a similar study this year, we might see a different leaderboard.
StackOverflow research results
▍GitHub Ratings (GitHut)
Below is a graph of GitHut 2.0 that shows the number of PRs made from 2013 to 2019 by programming language. As you can see, JavaScript confidently bypasses all other languages. Python is in second place, and Go is not even visible here.
GitHut 2.0, PR data
But if you analyze the ratings of programming languages, looking at the table below the graph, it turns out that the popularity of Go is growing, while the popularity of JavaScript and Python is falling.
Go's popularity is growing, while JavaScript and Python are falling
▍GitHub repositories
Let's take a look at the GitHub repositories related to the languages we are interested in and see how much work is underway on them.
Cpython repository
repository node
Go Repository
Seeing this data, it is easy to conclude that Go enjoys a lot of developer attention. The corresponding repository has more observers than repositories associated with the other two languages, it has more stars. True, this repository has fewer forks than the other two.
Now let's talk about situations in which each of the languages we are discussing might be interesting.
Python
Python is a dynamically typed high-level programming language that has been popular in the IT industry for many years. Namely, as indicated by the results of many studies, Python can be called the most popular programming language of the past decade.
▍Strengths of Python
- Python allows you to quickly solve complex problems, while creating small amounts of code.
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In general, it can be noted that Python is a multipurpose language with a simple, clean and not too complicated syntax, which is easy to master even for beginners. All of the above means that Python is a wonderful language. From a technical point of view, all those tasks that are solved using Python can be solved using other languages. But Python's simplicity and clarity made it what it is today - the most popular programming language. This is why Python is the “# 1 language” of interest to companies looking for programmers. Therefore, whether you are a programmer with some experience, or you don't know absolutely nothing about programming yet, learning Python will open up interesting job opportunities for you in 2021. Actually,the average annual earnings of a Python developer is an impressive $ 116,000.
JavaScript (Node.js)
Personally, I really like the Node.js platform. It was with her that I started doing server development. So far, I've talked about programming languages. But here I would like to talk about Node.js, about one of the most popular platforms for executing JavaScript code. As everyone knows, the Node.js platform is popular in the IT industry as an environment for developing server applications. One of the main reasons for this is that this platform is JavaScript-based. If you are a JS developer, then you can become a full stack programmer without much difficulty. This is one of the competitive advantages of someone who knows JavaScript.
▍Javascript and Node.js Strengths
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As you can see, Node.js is a great platform for JavaScript backend development. If you analyze the graph below taken from this study, it turns out that JavaScript is used for client-side and server-side development on about the same scale.
JavaScript is popular in front-end and server-side development
If we talk about the average salary for a Node.js developer in the US, then this will be something in the region of $ 48,000 - $ 130,000 per year.
Go
Go is an open source programming language that makes it easy to develop simple, reliable, and efficient applications. It appeared in 2009, but it hasn't become as popular as Python and JavaScript. However, Go has since been called the "language of the year" twice. 67.9% of developers surveyed by Stack Overflow named Go as their favorite language. Obviously, this is not happening without reason.
Favorite languages
▍Go Strengths
- Go is a C-like language, so someone familiar with C or other similar languages won't have to learn something completely new while learning Go.
- Go is a cross-platform language.
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The above facts about Go let us say that it is also a wonderful language. You may be wondering why you are still writing in something other than Go. I must admit that when I learned a little about Go, I thought about the same thing. Many programmers have learned C as their first language. For someone who has studied this way, it will be very easy to learn Go and start using it.
If you look at the average salary for a Go developer in the US, it would be something like $ 45,000- $ 130,000 per year.
My favorite things in life are not worth any money. It is very clear to me that the most precious resource we have is time.
Steve Jobs
Outcome
Go seems to be doing very well over the past few years. In addition, based on the research results, it turns out that Go shows better growth dynamics than JavaScript and Python. As a result, we can say that this trend will continue in the remaining months of 2020. And I, even though my first server-side language was JavaScript, ranked Go first.
Which language would you say is the most promising language for server-side development in 2021?
