In today's world of rapid advances in the technological world, we are constantly pushed to study and learn new technologies that can help build an interactive user experience. Programming languages are the blocks of computer programming that make up many complex tasks for programmers who create codes for different uses. Identifying which would be the best programming language to use for your latest mobile app is important as it can greatly improve your chances of success. And as the world becomes increasingly dependent on mobile devices, many software developers are opting for programming languages such as Java or Objective C to develop apps for mobile.
However, the article "6 Most Popular Programming Languages for Mobile App Development" breaks down the most popular apps used today and compares which languages are trending and which language could be worth considering when developing a new app. While there are so many different programming languages to choose from, it's important to decide on a few that will make your app stand out from the crowd.
Java
Java is a top programming language used by developers worldwide to help program Android and iOS apps. This is an important programming language because it is easy to use, inexpensively priced, and boasts many viable tools as well as libraries. Java, created by James Gosling and first released in 1995 by Sun Microsystems, is the second most popular language on GitHub behind JavaScript. Currently, Java supports more than 3 billion devices and 70% of the Top Grossing Mobile OS in 2016 was built on it. Java is one of the most popular programming languages suited for developing mobile applications. Although Java isn't considered cross-platform, it still works on many operating systems including Windows and OS X.
Objective C
Objective C is native to Apple's operating systems, meaning it's easier to use, less error-prone, and requires less code. There are some other apps developed using Objective C on Android, but the language will be difficult to use on these platforms. Swift has been widely adopted and this language excels in mobile app development right now. You’ll find working with Swift much faster than Objective C or Java. Objective C is a cross-platform, object-oriented language and one of the most prominent languages in mobile app development. It was developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in 1984 and has been refining it since then. This means that it wasn't only designed to work on Apple's operating systems but for Windows and Linux; it also has advantages when coding for graphics, making it a hugely popular choice amongst developers
Swift
At first glance, Swift might not seem like the programming language to go for because it's relatively new and it isn't on GitHub. But it has enjoyed a meteoric rise and in 2015 was named the most-loved programming language by Stack Exchange. One of its better features is its unified model featuring modern object-oriented and imperative languages. Swift has been in development since 2009 which means it is not new and outdated. With 2016 marking a huge year for the language, Swift seems to be deciding to make a huge impact in the world of mobile app development. It basically combines Objective-C and C# into one language with many benefits.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a groundbreaking web programming language which enables web pages to interact with other objects in the web. It uses different types of scripts and they dynamically run on a client's machine, server or cloud. As one of the most popular programming languages for mobile app development, JavaScript codes can be performed quite quickly to produce robust and viable applications. There are many popular programming languages for mobile app development, but JavaScript is a versatile language because it also works well with APIs from different companies in addition to cross-platform programming. Along with being one of the most trending programming languages on Stack Overflow, JavaScript is also by far the most flexible.
Dart
Dart is a lighter and faster language than Java or Objective-C, which helps the mobile apps to load quicker. Additionally, this language has some features that will help you to improve its memory consumption like algebraic types, asynchronous access to static data, and libraries for unit testing. It is arguably the most powerful programming language for mobile app development. It has a strong foundation for machine intelligence and has already been used by Uber and Tesla. Dart is an open-source programming language developed by Google. This language was first introduced in 2010, 1 year later it was released as a managed platform for mobile app development. It offers the following features: Dart VM, memory library and abstractions for common tasks.
Kotlin
The Kotlin mobile app programming language is a cross-platform compatible Java/Kotlin scripting language that was created by JetBrains in 2009. It compiles high performance, with excellent readability and developer happiness. Another language that has taken popularity is Kotlin. This is because of a lot of companies are now using it to write their apps. This is the best alternative to Swift, Java, C# and Objective-C which were all popular before Kotlin. It has been used mainly for Android development until recently when Apple announced that they will open source it for iOS portal as well. Kotlin is a statically typed programming language designed to be fast and clean. Compared to Java and Swift, Kotlin eliminates syntactic ambiguities and makes multi-platform app development easier.
Takeaway
Information technology is one of the fastest growing industries and demand for mobile developers is immense. More than half of all jobs required programming skills in 2022, which means that enterprising mobile app developers should highly consider coding languages during the early stages of their business planning process. These top nine programming languages have turned into the go-to for mobile app development. With an increasing number of apps for both Android and iOS platforms, these are the ones programmers use!