Popular Programming Languages

All popular programming languages, for each one the description and why to choose it. New emerging programming languages are also included in the list.

Complete list	Description	Why use it?
C# (C Sharp)	Concurrent to java, runs on .NET or compatible platforms (Portable NET, Mono). More – Code	Easier than C++. May share resources with other languages under a common runtime.
C	C offers great freedom, and lot of debugging challenge thanks to pointers and memory management. More – Code	Suffering slow programming to make fast programs. For system programming.
C++	C++ is C plus objects, an extended library, templates. More – Code	System programming as C but allow larger project, or applications.
D language	C++ like language, more dynamic. Compatible with C. D Language – Code	For teaching or scripting.
Pascal	Old language (1970), improved with objects, imposes a strictly structured programming. More – Code	Teaching, or client/server apps with Delphi and Kylix.
Basic ASP	This very old language (1964) was improved by Microsoft, with a complete programming environment. Other portages exist. More – Code	Standard language for scripting Microsoft’s applications (Word etc…), and for dynamic web pages (Asp) on Windows servers.
PHP	Designed to be embedded inside HTML to build dynamic Web pages or update them from databases. More – Code	Producing HTML pages from data. The version 5 targets Web services.
Java	Was designed to be portable and to replace C++. More – Code	Cross-platform applications. For web services and mobile phone apps under Android.
JavaScript, ECMAScript	JavaScript has been invented to build dynamic client-side html pages, ECMAScript is the standardized version. More – Code	For interactivity in web pages and applications. Used with HTML 5 for Web or local apps on Metro or Node.js or Qt.
Scriptol	A simple, object-oriented, universal language with an intuitive and powerful syntax. You can build executables, or embed code into html pages. XML may be used as data structure. More – Code	Easy and universal for scripting, prototyping, making binary applications, dynamic web pages and XML processing. For web services by using PHP 5 as back-end.
Python	A modern interpreted language with powerful built-in features and a unique indentation feature to shorten coding. The Jython version compiles in Java bytecode. More – Code	Programming at light speed. Powerful and easy to learn. Extending Zope for web services. Java scripting with Jython. Only for open source applications (not compiled).
Boo	This is a new version of Python with some new features. It runs on .Net and Mono and thus, no compatibility problem. Boo – Code	Similar to Python.
ASP	Scripting language, server-side, for dynamic web pages by Microsoft, same syntax as Basic. ASP – Code	Producing HTML pages from data, but under Windows servers only.
Assembler	This is near the machine language and the fastest. You should never use it, as older programmers did.	Making graphic subroutines, drivers or industrial processing.
Eiffel, Sather	Object-oriented, with “programming per contract” and other secure features. Sather is an open source implementation. More – Code	Programming secured applications. Used by hospitals.
Perl	A scripting interpreted language. Readabillity and ease of use are not the goal. Perl – Code	Mainly used by networks administrators and for small CGI scripts.
Rebol	Interpreted language for network scripting. The language itself may be augmented. Rebol – Code	Processing information on distributed computer systems, with small programs.
Ruby	Designed with simplicity in mind. It is interpreted, and has a proprietary but extensible library. More – Code	Writing scripts more easily. Using Ruby on Rails for Web applications.
Tcl	A scripting language, easy to learn and available on any platform. More – Code	Scripting of portable programs with GUI, and web programming by CGI.
NetRexx	By IBM, has a simplified syntax. More – Code	Extends Java with scripts.
Lua	Add-on or standalone language with extensible semantic. Lua – Code	Extending the C language.
Cobol	Business language still used on big computers. Cobol – Code	Maintaining old programs on mainframes.
Fortran	One of the first languages, always used for mathematical tasks. Fortran – Code	Has huge library for scientific calculations.
Lisp	Lisp is a very old language designed for artificial intelligence, processes lists only. Lisp – Code	Artificial intelligence and scripting.
Scheme	Scheme is a modernized version of Lisp. Scheme – Code	Artificial intelligence and scripting.
Prolog	For logic programming, based on Horn’s clauses. Prolog – Code	Heavy artificial intelligence processing.
Haskell	Functional programming. Slow and memory consuming. Haskell – Code	To try programming in another way
SQL	Language of data management. MySQL	For databases queries.
Forth	Another oldy. Invented by an astronomer, is stack based Forth – Code	For instrumental commands and legacy libraries re-using.
Smalltalk	One of the first object oriented language, programs can’t run outside the IDE. Smalltalk – Code	Absolutely object-oriented processing.
Modula, Oberon	Successors to Pascal. Oberon – Code	For nostalgics of the Algol and Pascal time.
Caml, Ocalm	Functional languages, Ocalm is object-oriented. Caml – Code	Used by universities. May help to build a compiler.
Scala	Procedural, functional and object-oriented programming language. Scala – Code	Provides a more compact syntax than Java on the virtual machine
XML	Not really a programming language, but may be used for similar tasks. XML	XML serves to describe precisely data and may include actions on data. XSL allows to transform documents.