Programming is like art, both the process of writing code and the code in itself. Converting an idea that only existed in your head into reality is an unparalleled feeling. It’s a kind of mindfulness that keeps you in a state of flow when you love the work you do. And, when your product impacts millions of developers and helps them find the right place to work, it’s both exciting and scary!

JavaScript: 2018’s most popular language

When comparing the most popular languages that developers were learning year over year, HackerRank found that developers were learning JavaScript at the most rapid rate. In 2018, 73% of developers said they knew JavaScript, up from 67% in 2017. This also makes JavaScript 2018’s most well-known language, compared to Java in 2017.

Student developers are the exception. Only 42% of student developers in 2018 said they knew JavaScript. This could be because JavaScript isn’t taught in most university computer science programs.

Languages Developers Want to Learn in 2019

Developers are as eager as they were last year to learn Go, Kotlin, and Python became Best Programming Languages to learn in 2019. Interestingly, developers’ interest in Scala has dropped, whereas their interest in TypeScript has increased. Scala was the 3rd most popular language that developers planned to learn in 2018 but dropped to 6th place in 2019.

TypeScript went from being the 5th most popular language to learn to #4. The language’s rising popularity is most likely because of the ubiquity of JavaScript and the fact that many major JavaScript frameworks use TypeScript. In fact, almost a quarter of developers know Typescript this year, up from 15% last year.

Frameworks Developers Want to Learn in 2019

AngularJS (Angular) continues to be the most popular framework that developers know. However, more and more developers have begun to learn React. The percentage of developers who know React jumped from 20% in 2017 to 26% in 2018.

The number of developers who know React is likely to keep increasing. It’s the #1 framework that developers want to learn in 2019. The transition from Angular 1 to Angular 2 did not allow for backwards compatibility, which could explain why developers are moving towards a different framework. React is also considered to be simpler and more flexible than AngularJS, making it poised to overtake AngularJS.

Frameworks Hiring Managers want vs. Frameworks Developers Know

Despite developers taking a stronger interest in React, companies’ appetite for this front-end framework outpaced the number of developers who knew React in 2018. The JavaScript ecosystem is constantly evolving and often difficult to keep up with, but it’s obvious that learning React is a worthwhile investment for developers.

Source : HackerRank