Learn more about some common categories of programming languages to get inspired to start coding.
Programming is a skill that is becoming increasingly sought after in the job market. The Government in India has been transforming the digital landscape through the Digital India Programme, with a focus on expanding digital access and training across the country [1]. With the high rate at which digital technology is expanding, computer programming skills are likely to continue to be in high demand across many professional industries.
Anyone who interacts with technology should have at least a basic understanding of how software functions. With a background in programming, you can get a job coding, designing software, data architecture, or creating intuitive user interfaces.
But what language should you learn? You'll find a seemingly infinite number of free programming languages to learn and develop projects online. With the technology field growing exponentially each year, the internet is a great place to start when exploring the latest developments or discovering a new skill.
Whichever language you learn, you may find it helpful to take notes or draw diagrams detailing the steps you're taking and why. Programmers need to be able to communicate their process to non-technical stakeholders, but taking notes can also be a great learning tool.
In this article, we'll explore some of the most common programming languages and provide some resources for starting to learn them.
While you'll find dozens of ways to classify various programming languages, they generally fall into five major categories. Keep in mind that some languages may fall under more than one type:
A procedural language follows a sequence of statements or commands to achieve a desired output. Each series of steps is called a procedure, and a program written in one of these languages will have one or more procedures within it. Common examples of procedural languages include:
C and C++
Java
Pascal
BASIC
Rather than focusing on the execution of statements, functional languages focus on the output of mathematical functions and evaluations. Each function–a reusable module of code–performs a specific task and returns a result. The result will vary depending on what data you input into the function. Some popular functional programming languages include:
Scala
Erlang
Haskell
Elixir
F#
This type of language treats a program as a group of objects composed of data and program elements, known as attributes and methods. Objects can be reused within a program or in other programs. This makes it a popular language type for complex programs, as code is easier to reuse and scale. Some common object-oriented programming (OOP) languages include:
Java
Python
PHP
C++
Ruby
Programmers use scripting languages to automate repetitive tasks, manage dynamic web content, or support processes in larger applications. Some common scripting languages include:
PHP
Ruby
Python
bash
Perl
Node.js
Instead of telling a computer what to do, a logic programming language expresses a series of facts and rules to instruct the computer on making decisions. Some examples of logic languages include:
Prolog
Absys
Datalog
Alma-0
You'll find many more ways to categorise languages beyond the five listed above. Let's take a closer look at the other ways you can think about programming languages:
Front-end languages are primarily concerned with the "user" aspect of the software. The front end deals with all of the text, colours, buttons, images, and navigation that the user will face when navigating your website or application. Anyone with a graphic design or art background may be more inspired to begin learning one of the front-end languages.
Some examples of front-end programming languages include:
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
React
Back-end languages deal with storage and manipulation of the server side of software. This is the part of the software that the user does not directly come into contact with but supports their experience behind the scenes. This includes data architecture, scripting, and communication between applications and underlying databases.
Anyone with experience in mathematics or engineering may find more interest in back-end development.
Some examples of back-end programming languages include:
JavaScript
PHP
Java
Python
Ruby
C#
The biggest factor differentiating high- and low-level programming languages is whether the language is meant to be easily understood by a human programmer or a computer. Low-level languages are machine-friendly, which makes them highly efficient in terms of memory usage but difficult to understand without the help of an assembler. Since they're not very people-friendly, they're also not widely used anymore. Examples include machine code and assembly languages.
On the other hand, high-level languages are less memory efficient but much more human-friendly. This makes them easier to write, understand, maintain, and debug. Most popular programming languages in use today are considered high-level languages.
The distinction between interpreted and compiled languages concerns how they convert high-level code and make it readable by a computer. With interpreted languages, code passes through a program called an interpreter, which reads and executes the code line by line. This tends to make these languages more flexible and platform-independent.
Examples of interpreted languages include:
Python
JavaScript
PHP
Ruby
Compiled languages undergo a build step, where the entire program is converted into machine code. This makes the program faster to execute, but it also means that you have to compile or "build" the program again anytime you need to make a change.
Examples of compiled languages include:
C, C++, and C#
Rust
Erlang
Learning to program is easier now than ever. Start writing programs in Python with Python for Everybody from the University of Michigan, learn the basics of web development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for Web Developers from Johns Hopkins University, or prepare for a career in IT with Google IT Automation with Python—all offered on Coursera. By taking these courses, you are setting yourself up to enter an entry-level programming position or building a foundation to expand your skills and work towards higher-level positions.
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Digital India. “How Digital India will be realised: Pillars of Digital India, https://digitalindia.gov.in/content/programme-pillars.” Accessed November 22, 2022.
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