GitHub is the web’s No. 1 place for developers all over the world to swap and share code.
It has even been called the “Facebook for programmers,” with lots of Silicon Valley firms requiring job applicants to include their GitHub profile right alongside their résumé.
That means GitHub is a great place to gauge which of the world’s many thousands of programming languages are the most popular — especially since a popular programming language is always a good job skill for anybody to have in this age of technological transformation.
Without further ado, here are the top programming languages on GitHub.
No. 9 — C: The original C, invented in 1972, is still incredibly popular. That’s not least because it works on just about any computing platform ever made, and it’s super stable and understood by programmers everywhere. In 1978, the language’s legendary and still widely read manual, the 800-page “The C Programming Language,” saw print for the first time.
No. 8 — C#: Pronounced “C-sharp,” as in musical notation. Another variant on the original C programming language, this one comes straight out of Microsoft and incorporates some of Java’s concepts for what some developers find to be higher performance and code that’s easier to write.
No. 7 — C++: First invented in 1983 as a replacement for the original C programming language, C++ is an incredibly popular choice for developers all over the world. Microsoft Windows, Google Chrome, and the software for fighter jets are all written in C++.
No. 6 — CSS: Short for “Cascading Style Sheets,” CSS is a programming language to design the format and layout of a website. A lot of website menus and mobile-app menus are written with CSS, in conjunction with JavaScript and garden-variety HTML.
No. 5 — Python: This language traces back to 1989, and it is loved by its fans for its highly readable code. Many programmers suggest it’s the easiest language to get started with, right alongside Ruby.
No. 4 — PHP: This language for programming websites is incredibly common; some estimates say it powers one-third of the web. Big sites including WordPress, Facebook, and Yahoo use it. A lot of programmers also hate PHP with a passion — Stack Exchange founder Jeff Atwood once wrote “PHP isn’t so much a language as a random collection of arbitrary stuff, a virtual explosion at the keyword and function factory.”
No. 3 — Ruby: Developers like this 24-year-old language because it’s easy to read and write the code. Also popular is Rails, an add-on framework for Ruby that makes it really easy to use it to build web apps. The language’s official motto is, “A programmer’s best friend.” GitHub is written in Ruby.
No. 2 — Java: Originally invented in 1991 as a programming language for smart televisions, Oracle’s Java is now the most popular language in the world, a position solidified by the fact that Java is crucial to Android app development and lots of business software. It’s also the fastest-growing language, with GitHub saying it was only No. 7 in 2009.
No. 1 — JavaScript: This is a super-popular programming language primarily used in web apps. But it doesn’t have much to do with Java besides the name. JavaScript runs a lot of the modern web, but it also catches a lot of flak for slowing browsers down and sometimes exposing users to security vulnerabilities.
And for good measure, here’s a look at how those rankings have changed over the past seven years:
This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
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Author: Matt Weinberger is a tech reporter based in San Francisco.
Image: A hand is silhouetted in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski.
