Is there a programming language that you can call "the best"?

When I was studying computer science at university, I had this thought several times. Now that I work as a full-time software engineer, I can say that the best programming language doesn't exist.😁 It's just a matter of personal preference, and it depends on what you are trying to build.

Three criteria that I think can be useful when choosing a programming language to learn are:

🎨 Your interests: what do you like? Are you into mobile development? Then go with Kotlin/Java for Android, Swift for iOS. Data science? Python. Gaming? C++. Web development? JavaScript and PHP are great. The list goes on.

📊 Market trends: some languages are more popular than others, and if you're looking to program professionally, ideally, you might want to stick with the top 5. Also, just because a programming language is more trendy for a year, it doesn't mean that the others become obsolete all of a sudden. Every year StackOverflow publishes a developer survey. It gives a great insight into what developers are learning.

💭 Complexity: some languages take more effort than others to learn, are more verbose and strongly typed. Start with a relatively easy language and work your way up from there.

🔎 Field: I've noticed that some languages are more used in specific sectors than others. For example, in financial services Java is very popular, especially in large corporations. In healthcare, Python is predominant.

In a commercial setting, a language is chosen based on the type of application to build (for example: is it a mobile or web application that we're trying to develop?), the complexity, the time available, scalability, etc.

Many factors need to be taken into account when considering a suitable language for a project. But if you're starting, the three criteria listed earlier should guide you in the right direction (I hope!).

Happy learning!