Java is still Top Language

Author: Ritesh Mehta

Java remains the top programming language last year and continues to be the most popular this year. By popular, it means that it has the most code lines written. The programming language earned a rating of 20.749 percent, which is an increase of 2.97 percent over last month.

THE TWENTY YEARS OF JAVA CELEBRATION

Looking back over the years, Java has consistently been either at number one or two. It has jostled for position with C, which consistently was the most popular before Java came about.

WHY JAVA CONTINUES TO BE VERY POPULAR

So, why does Java still the top language? There are several reasons why.

  1. Backwards compatibility. Sun and then Oracle made great efforts to make sure that code that’s written for one Java version would continue running unchanged on newer versions. While this has not been the case always and has at times led to implementations that could’ve been better without compatibility, it’s a truly compelling feature for developers. Nothing is worse than taking code that works and then changing it to make it work on a newer platform version, which is a wasted time.
  2. Practicality. Java is described as a ‘blue collar’ programming language. It was designed to enable developers get their job done with less fuss, while still allowing developers to pick up someone else’s or even their code at a later data and comprehend what it is supposed to do. With good coding conventions, Java is more readable than a lot of other languages.
  3. Freshness. This is a big one. Java developers and do things in a more functional manner, with no need to learn an entirely new language. The features also make it much simpler to take advantage of multi-processor/multi-core machines with no need to write plenty of complex and possibly error-prone multi-threaded code.
  4. Scalability, reliability and performance. With more than twenty years as well as thousands of many-years of development, Java is a rock solid platform, which performs on a level that could match or perhaps even exceed native code. For performance and scalability, Java is an obvious choice.

THE EVOLUTION OF JAVA

The fact that Java runs on a JVM, instead of directly on a processor of a computer as native code meant that Java, particularly its early versions, lagged in performance than other languages. The complaint about Java’s speed early is no longer the case today. It now runs very close to optimized native code when it comes to speed and definitely much faster compared to scripting languages, such as PHP, Perl, Python and JavaScript.

Android development is the major driver in the recent popularity of Java and its emergence at the top of the TIOBE index. Although Google never officially commented on why it uses Java for Android development, there are several obvious features of the programming language that could have convinced the decision, such as the fact that Java application run in a securable VM wherein there is no need to recompile for each and every Android device. Not to mention the big number of open source development tools and libraries available to ease the lives of developers.

Another of the major reasons for the popularity of Java is the Java Community Process of JCP, the mechanism, for the development of standard technical specs for the Java technology. The JCP enables any developer to review and give feedback for various Java specification requests, and participate as a member of a Java Expert Group. JCP membership for companies and commercial establishments have annual fees, but is free for individuals.

EXTENSIVEL REVISED TO ADDRSS VARIOUS PROGRAMMING PROBLEMS

Java has been revised extensively to address all kinds of programming issues. Java 8 added features that are taken from functional programming idioms, which make Java code more expressive and shorter. The release of Java 9, which is due in 2017, would introduce modularity to build a scalable as well as more secure platform. Beyond version 9, the Panama and Valhalla releases are designed to offer more efficient access to data and better control over the layout of data in computer memory in order to achieve higher performance.

JAVA IS TRULY POPULAR

Truly, Java is popular because it is really good and surprisingly, there is very little out there which could compete to it in all levels. This is true, especially for projects of substance, with numerous developers working on it. The icing on the cake is that the programming language is supported by Oracle, a billion dollar company, which may not mean anything to a lot of people, but if working with a huge company, with large budgets that support contract, it is worth something.

Obviously, with Java’s popularity reaching the highest, peak, there is great demand for Java developers nowadays.