Web development is one perpetually evolving space, where there are seemingly endless possibilities. Looking back from its genesis back in the 90s, web development has grown cosmic and today in the year 2023, we see no end to this evolution.
That evolution and its fundamental importance in business today makes it even more incentivizing. In this article, we will discuss some of the best programming languages for web development in 2023, giving you a general understanding of each. But before that, we will reflect on some common questions regarding programming languages for the sake of unwariness.

What is a programming language?

The role of any language is to facilitate communication. In that conception, programming languages rule by commanding a computing device to perform specific tasks. C++, C, BASIC, Java, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, and Ada are some of the high-level languages for programming for the web. It is a computer’s language with its own syntax, structure, and rules that the machine can understand to follow and carry out the operation without glitches.

What are the different types of programming languages?

For the ambit of this blog, we will discuss the three main types of programming languages as per the different aspects of web development, which are as the following:
Front-end programming languages – are used for creating what the user sees on the browser.
Back-end programming languages – used for fulfilling those requests on the server side.
You must have heard about full-stack developers. They are one of the most highly regarded professionals in the field of web development. They are very well equipped to work both on the front-end as well as the back-end of a website.

Do some programming languages work better than others?

The answer is yes, some programming languages do work better than others. Though inherently all programming languages work similarly, some tend to work faster than others depending on the level of abstraction of each language, that is to say, things it can consider automatically and the things that have to be fed manually.
Before delving into different programming languages, it is important to establish that a particular language can be used for developing both the front-end as well as the back-end of a website.

Top Programming Languages for Web Development in 2023

JavaScript

JavaScript is a full-stack language, i.e it can be used to develop both the front-end and the back-end of a website. As per Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Survey, JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language in the world, capturing 69.7% of the web development market. What makes it the popular choice is that it can be used for both, frontend as well as backend development. Other than adding behaviour and interactivity to web pages, it also adds several libraries and frameworks, therefore the most preferred choice of every web developer when it comes to making vivacious web elements for example clickable buttons, animated graphics, etc. 

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are: 

Validating User’s Input 

JavaScript is very handy when it comes to using forms since it has the capability to validate user input for errors, saving the time taken by manual rectification of the same, i.e in case a user leaves a required field unattended, the information will still reflect incorrectly, and JavaScript inspects that before sending it to the server. 

Greater Level of Control  

It provides a greater level of control to the browser than being entirely dependent on the web server, in addition to providing additional functionalities to the browser which reduces server load and network traffic. 

Advantages

Simplicity

It is simple to learn and even simpler to understand both for the user and the developers, in addition to being feasible in implementation, and cost-effective in terms of developing dynamic web content.   

Server Load 

Since it is operational on the client’s end, the data validates on the browser itself instead of sending it to the server, therefore, in the case of discrepancy, the whole website is not reloaded, the browser reloads only the selected glitched segment of the page.   

Disadvantages 

Single Inheritance 

Since JavaScript can be viewed by the user, it can also be influenced by malicious parties, who may use the source code without authentication, and input some code into the site hampering the security of the data on the website. 

Lacks debugging Facility 

Although debugging is supported by some HTML editors, it is not as efficient as other editors like C#/C++. Furthermore, since the browser shows no errors it becomes very tedious for the developer to detect those problems.

Python

Python is a full stack programming language, following JavaScript in the league of top programming languages with 41.6% market dominance. Python allows using several programming styles be it functional, reflective, or object-oriented, for backend development, data science, web application development, and automation. It has delivered several web platforms including YouTube and Google Search. 

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are: 

Easy to Code 

Irrespective of it being a high-level programming language, Python is very easy to learn since learning its basic syntax is easier in comparison to other programming languages like C#, C++, and Java. 

Easy to Read

When you read Python, you will see it almost seems like reading common English, since brackets, semicolons, and indentations are not used to define the code block. By merely giving it a read, one can tell what the code is supposed to do. 

Advantages 

Extensible 

Python code is a highly extensible language as it can be extended into other languages such as C++.

Expressive 

Python eases complex tasks by commanding a few lines of coding. 

Disadvantages 

Slow at Runtime 

When compared to its contemporaries like PHP, C++, and Java, Python is immeasurably slow and it concerns developers a lot, especially when they have to write lots of lines of code for humongous programs. 

High Memory Consumption 

Python lacks preference when it comes to memory-intensive tasks since the flexibility of data types makes its memory consumption high.

HTML

HTML, short for HyperText Markup Language, is basically the foundation stone of web development and every web developer must be familiar with it. It is a full-stack language. Hence, it captures 62.4% of the market being the second most common programming language after JavaScript and being the standard language for creating web pages. 

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

Free

It is free of cost, no one does not have to purchase a particular software and different plugins since it does not require one. From a business’s perspective, HTML is cost-effective since one does not have to incur the cost of purchasing a license and they can develop the whole website with the HTML language.  

Supported by all Browsers

HTML is supported by all browsers across the globe, so one does not have to worry about their website being written in HTML being supported by the browser. The website will easily show up on all browsers if it is optimized well. In addition to that, HTML provides an easy way to optimize the website written in HTML. 

Advantages 

Search Engine Friendly 

It is easier to create websites that are SEO-compliant using HTML which means they are easy to read and be accessed by web crawlers, reducing parsing time, and load time of the page and thus with improved performance. 

Simple to Edit 

HTML is easy to edit as writing on a simple notepad which can be edited simply by a text editor since it does not require a special interface or platform for editing.

Disadvantages

Not Preferable for Dynamic Pages

Back when HTML came into being, websites served a limited purpose, which was to display static words and images. However, times have changed and a website has to serve more dynamic purposes, like Facebook which has infinite scrolling pages. To be able to create a webpage that can generate such dynamic content, web developers have to learn other programming languages like PHP, JavaScript, ASP, etc since such modern features that one would expect from a modern website can not be attained using basic HTML. 

Lacks Aesthetics

HTML does a great job when it comes to structuring content since it is a structuring language, but it lags behind in aestheticism. To attain this, a separate language Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is employed and a web developer using HTML has to maintain two files, one that contains the HTML files and the structured content and the other being a CSS file that dictates the appearance and appea of the page.

C#

C# (called C Sharp) is the genesis of Microsoft and is an object-oriented back-end programming language created originally for the .NET framework for building Windows applications. Though now it is used for backend development and developing mobile applications, games, and more. Other than running on Windows, it also works on Android, Linux, and iOS platforms. 

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

Constant Interpolated Strings 

With Constant Interpolated Strings one can apply syntax to a string easily and conveniently. A combination of strings and an expression is known as an interpolated string.The expression gets executed and the resultant string value is added to the resolving string. Previously string interpolation was limited only to strings and a constant string could not be interpolated, however, now even a string declared constant can be interpolated. 

Property patterns extended

It has improved access a child’s property from a parent’s property, which was inaccessible at the same level previously.   

Advantages 

Visual Studio as a native IDE

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a workspace that provides the means for writing, compiling, debugging, and testing a code for the developers during the development period. Visual Studio is then a reliable inbuilt IDE which operates as a single workspace for all .NET applications and furthermore supports other languages such as C and C++.

Inbuilt Garbage Collector 

C# has an inbuilt garbage collector to manage the memory allocation for maintaining the performance of the application. It tracks the unused objects and frees memory automatically, hence easing the burden of developers to write commands to reclaim unused objects and clean the memory, avoiding memory leaks and allocating it to new ones. 

Disadvantages 

Hard learning curve

Honestly, C# is not the easiest language to learn in comparison to its contemporaries and when you add .NET libraries, it adds another level of complexity. .NET Libraries get updated frequently and one has to learn thousands of resources before getting into C# programming. Furthermore, one has to work with multiple runtimes to develop cross-platform applications as C# or .NET applications do not operate on Linux and macOS natively.  

Dependence on the .NET platform 

C# relies immensely on the .NET to run on different operating systems and .NET is not flexible when considered as the main technology stack, therefore one has to use different runtimes for different platforms as per the requirement of the corresponding system.

C++

Another extension of objective C is C++. It is a middle-level programming language developed in the year 1980 with the objective to accommodate features like exception handling, type checking, etc., and object-oriented capabilities to the C language while retaining the speed and efficiency of the C language family. It is the predecessor of the C# language.  

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

OOP(Object-Oriented Programming)

Unlike objective C which is a procedural language, C++ is an Objective-oriented language. Thus, employs objects while programming which helps in implementing real-time problems based on data abstraction, encapsulation, hiding, and polymorphism.

Machine Independent 

C++ allows using the same piece of code in varied environments, which means if you happen to write a code to find the name, age, and salary of an employee on Microsoft Windows, and then you switch your operating system to Linux, the code will still work in the same fashion.

Advantage

Multi-paradigm 

The word “paradigm” means the style of programming and is inclusive of attributes like logic, structure, and procedure of the programming. Thus, C++ is a multi-paradigm language constituting three paradigms: generic, imperative, and object-oriented. 

Low-level of manipulation   

Because of its close association to C, which is a procedural language, quite similar to machine language, low-level manipulation of data is permissible at a certain level, thus embedded systems and compilers are created with C++. 

Disadvantages 

Use of Pointers

C++ has a high level of memory consumption, therefore misusing the pointers lead to the system crashing.  

Lacks Built-In Thread 

C++ doesn’t support built-in threads, since threads themselves, are a new concept for C++. It was not there when C++ came into being. Although now, C++ supports lambda functions.

PHP

Hypertext Preprocessor or PHP is an interpreted, open-source back-end scripting language for backend development. Developers find it highly reliable for building dynamic websites with voluminous data making it one of the most popular programming languages for web pages. PHP has supported websites like Drupal and WordPress.

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

Object-Oriented 

PHP is also an object-oriented programming language, supporting features like inheritance, encapsulation, abstraction, and polymorphism of data. Thus, it can be used to develop complex reusable web pages. This brings it to the same vantage point as its contemporaries like Java and Python. 

Interpreted Language

PHP needs no compilation and it executes the source code itself where the code is platform-independent. Also, it offers other boons of being an interpreted language like dynamic typing and short executable program size.  

Advantages 

Flexibility 

PHP scripts are highly compatible with various databases, thus it can run on any device, mobile, tablet, PC, etc, and is easy to embed and integrate with HTML, XML, JavaScript etc. 

Efficient

Versatility, reliability, and efficiency are some of the many boons of the PHP programming language, in addition to memory management where it manages sessions well and eliminates unnecessary memory allocated. 

Disadvantage 

Mishandling Errors

The process of handling errors and optimizing them is known as handling errors and in the developers’ fraternity, PHP is observed as unreliable since it lacks many essential debugging tools which result in poor maintenance of the application.

Below the par performance 

PHP lags behind in supporting the smooth functioning of multiple features at the same point in time. To further add to its critical disclaim, using more PHP tools delivers poor performance, hence it makes a significant chink in its armour of being useful for content-based web applications.

Java

Java, a back-end language, was created to enhance the C++ programming language based on the principle “Write Once Run Anywhere”. Other than carrying the OOP concept, being an open-source language, and having a moderate learning curve, it also renders high productivity.  

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

Neutral Architecture 

An architectural neutral object file format is generated by the Java compiler, making the code execution on multiple processors coupled with the Java runtime system. 

Multithreaded

This feature allows writing programs that can perform many tasks simultaneously and makes interactive and smoothly running applications. 

Advantages 

Simple 

Java as a programming language is simplicity at its best since just by understanding the basic concept of OOP Java, one can master the language. 

Secure 

Java has security features that aid in developing tamper-free and virus-free systems since Java’s authentication technique is based on public-key encryption.  

Disadvantages  

Poor GUI appeal

Even though there are several GUI builders in Java that facilitate creating the graphical interface, it is unsuitable for complex UI because of the observed inconsistencies. 

No Backup Facility 

Java mainly focuses on storage and not on backing up the data, which makes it lose credibility among the developers. 

SQL

Structured Query Language or SQL is a standard full-stack database language that compliments other programming languages. It is basically a data query language and is applied for manipulating databases and captures 56.9 % of the market. 

Features 

Some of its other remarkable features are:

Data Definition Language 

DDL defines relation schemes, deleting relations, and modifying relational schemes and SQL provides it. This language controls all the structural operations performed on a database, hence also known as a data description language.  

Relational Foundation 

SQL is majorly employed for this, as the tabular structure of relational databases offers an intuitive user interface that makes SQL easy to learn and easier to use. Moreover, relational models have rendered a strong theoretical foundation that has to be a path bearer for implementing and developing a relational model thus making SQL the database language for relational databases.  

Advantages  

Authentication and Security

SQL servers possess many security-enhancing features, like encrypted communication over SSL/TLS, Windows Data Protection API which encrypts data at rest, authentication, and authorization. SQL is able to authenticate its user with their credentials and it supports two authentication modes, Windows authentication mode, and mixed-mode. 

Vendor Independence 

All major DBMS vendors support SQL which makes SQL-based databases and programs easy to migrate from one DBMS to another with no effort in conversion. 

Disadvantages 

Difficult in Interfacing 

Interfacing an SQL database is much more complicated than adding a few lines, unlike its contemporaries which makes it difficult for users to access it. 

Partial Control 

SQL programmers do not have complete autonomy of the database because of the hidden business rules. 

Conclusion 

If you have an upcoming project and are still unable to decide which programming language to use, then do not worry. A web development company like Element8 can help you make the right decision. Our team of exceptionally talented programmers and developers can build your mobile application or website from the scratch that is custom, creative and competitive. We value your business and most certainly analyze its needs, appeal and prospects and then employ a technology after assessing its pros and cons so that even if technology runs obsolete, your business never will.