The world is becoming more digital, and the need to learn digital skills is higher now than ever before. One such digital skill that has gained more prominence since the last decade is programming languages. We now live in a world revolving around technology, and basic knowledge of programming languages is becoming a necessity for many career options and job profiles.
There are many reasons to learn about the different programming languages and their advantages, and web services or web development is a big part of it. Web development is an ever-growing field and has plenty of opportunities. To grab these opportunities in web development, you need to equip yourself with the correct programming language. However, the plethora of language options available to you can be confusing, especially if you are a beginner.
Javascript
This high-level language, often used by most websites as a client-side language, is a core technology in the World Wide Web. Initially, it was used only for developing web browsers; however, they now have new usages in non-web browser applications and server-side website deployments.
Since its creation in 1995, it has evolved into one of the world’s most popular programming languages and is highly sought after by various organizations.
Pros
- Learning and implementing javascript is easy.
- It is very popular and is everywhere on the net.
- It can run immediately in the client-side browser.
- It doesn’t demand much from the website server.
Cons
- Different browsers may interpret it differently sometimes, so writing cross-browser code is difficult.
Python
This is a powerful programming language and is one of the best used in web development for multiple purposes. Furthermore, this open-source language is very easy to learn and deploy and is among the best languages for learning web development since it develops scalable applications and web pages.
Python has a unique selling point: the simple, productive, and elegant design of this language. It is the best for backend development with first-class integration with other programming languages such as C++ and C.
Python has numerous usages, especially in developing web and desktop applications and GUI-based applications such as machine learning, data science, and network servers. It also offers multiple toolsets for mathematics, statistics, and computational science with numerous libraries and frameworks like NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, and Scikit-Learn.
Pros
- It increases the productivity of programmers and developers.
- It supports several systems and platforms.
- It follows object-oriented programming.
- It ensures easy scalability, even with complex web applications.
- Offers numerous support libraries.
- It focuses on code readability.
Cons
- The database is primitive and slightly underdeveloped.
- Not ideal for mobile computing.
HTML
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. This language is the foundation upon which web development is built, and every developer must familiarize themselves with it. It is a very popular language and is currently one of the most used programming languages. While it cannot be described as a full-fledged programming language, HTML is the standard language for creating web pages.
HTML gives web pages structure and ensures that images and texts are correctly formatted. In addition, it is a fast language and helps developers design web pages much quickly because it uses templates.
Pros
- Learning and implementing is easy.
- It is free and accessible.
- All browsers support it.
Cons
- This language is static, so creating dynamic pages is impossible.
- It requires lots of code to develop a simple webpage.
PHP
This is an ideal language for web development. Even though many other programming languages like python and javascript are also suitable for web development, the need for professional developers who work with PHP remains very high in the market. It is a general-purpose language that can be used for developing server-side applications. In addition, PHP is dynamic and maintained by open-source platforms working across Windows. UNIX, and Mac systems.
PHP is highly productive in web development and is used vastly within this industry to build and deploy applications quickly.
Pros
- It has plenty of frameworks to offer.
- It can be used to develop web pages with ease.
- It supports object-oriented and functional programming paradigms.
- It also supports multiple automation tools used for testing and deploying applications.
- It uses the Xdebug extension, which allows for great debugging.
- It has a large ecosystem with incredible community support.
Cons
- It doesn’t have features for handling errors and security.
- It is slower to build a web page using this language alone than other programming languages.
CSS
CSS is similar to HTML because it is also a basic language that all developers should know. CSS is the acronym for Cascading Style Sheets. This language is mainly used along with HTML to govern a web page’s style. Combining CSS and HTML languages is often the mother of programming languages. For example, CSS determines the color, positions, and size of elements within a webpage.
CSS uses a cascading style, which means an applied style cascades down from the parent to the child throughout the web page. This cascading nature allows it to uphold consistency.
Pro
- It is a beginner-friendly language that’s easy to learn.
- CSS supports responsive website design.
- It simplified web page customization
- It increases the webpage loading speed.
Cons
- It is possible to suffer cross-browser issues.
- It has multiple levels, such as CSS2 and CSS3, which may lead to confusion.
C++
This middle-level programming language was created in 1980 as an Objective C extension. C++ language is simple and easy to learn for beginners, and it has lots of usefulness. It offers everything that Objective C offers and more. It supports features such as object-oriented programming, except type checking and handling.
C++ supports OOP concepts such as encapsulation, inheritance, and abstraction. The compiling mechanism is quick and efficient, and it has a massive standard library.
Pros
- It is highly scalable.
- It is portable and easy to handle.
- It has extensive community support.
Cons
- Garbage collection is not automatic.
- The pointers have associated complexities.
Conclusion
There are numerous options for programming languages to learn for web development in 2022. However, you could get spoiled for choice and miss your way if you’re a beginner and new to the web development scene. Therefore, this article discusses some of the best and most popular programming languages you can kick start your web service journey in 2022.
