Which programming language do you think will be used the most in the near future? You define the timescale and the reason. Personally, I think it is Java or C++, but I could be completely wrong about this. I'm learning Java right now so I hope it's Java!

C++ isn't going away at all, but it isn't really growing. I highly doubt Java is gonna make a big comeback either..
my money is on lolcode being the next big thing

LOL, no.


I don't think there will be a "new" language hitting the industry, but I see some growing and adapting, like the .NET stuff.

The language that the developer knows best.

C++ 0x is the next standard for C++

KYA, why do you think that there will be no significant "new" language in the future?

Ran accross this
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/pap...tpci/index.html

Because I work in the J2EE field, my view is probably a bit colored by my experience. However, in my opinion Java is becoming a bit heavy. Whether you believe generics to be a good or bad addition, there's no doubt that it added significant complexity to the language, which makes it a little less easy to learn for beginners. If closures get added to the language in 1.7, it going to become ever more heavy and complex. Basically, what I'm driving at is that I think the most popular languages in the near future are going to be the more agile byte code languages like Groovy and Scala, and byte code ports like Jython and JRuby as well. Personally, I think Groovy will emerge as the most popular byte-code language - especially for Java programmers because of its syntactic similarity to Java and its ability to be compiled at the same time as (along with) Java classes. It also has a JSR, so it's kind of a shoe in to be the "official" JRE scripting language. But I think most of the reasons it will gain in popularity are it's features, ease of use, and RAD model. Check it out.

Java will probably remain the heavy hitter for a while though.

In my opinion .NET is the way of the future (for me anyway). I believe this because:

a) Microsoft is leading the market share in operating systems.
b ) To most companies (from what I've seen) cross-platform doesn't matter that much.
c) Most companies want their applications developed fast.
d) C# closely resembles JAVA thus making transition between languages easy.
e) Implementations have been made to go cross-platform, like the Mono project.
f) It is needed for ASP.NET... for some strange reason.
g) It is constantly being updated. MORE LEGO BLOCKS FOR ALL >:).

I actually believe LOLCODE may well be the driving force of application development as well, because a ) the syntax is humorous and b ) developers would be more determined to fix bugs as their code would be making those funny images of the bugs in the bytecode.

However I could be very wrong and the language won't be adopted by a huge company and be developed upon. I never found a good LOLCODE interpreter.

.NET is certainly one of the language sets that will continue to grow it's share, although it (referring to the .NET mainstays like C# and VB.NET) will likely never be the most used languages. they should settle in about position 4 or5 (maybe 3, but that would be a stretch).

C# does closely resemble Java - as the MS equivalent, it was designed to try and take the good from Java, including the OO syntax.

As for the overall question, it will always depend on what the goal is. different languages are often used for different purposes, and I don;t see that changing anytime soon.

If this turned out to be true, I would be very surprised. Imagine if you walked into a cafe and found Bigfoot, Jimmy Hoffa, and Amelia Earhart sitting there having breakfast. That's how surprised I'd be.

This post has been edited by Programmist: 6 May, 2008 - 09:49 AM

I think that we're going to see the rise of interpreted languages.

C++, Java, and the ASP.Net languages(C#, VB.Net, etc.) are all well and good - but the world is shifting towards a more internet-focused society - and what are most web developers working with? They're working with things like Ruby, PHP, Perl, Python - all interpreted.

Interpreted languages are perceived as nicer, because it's fast to develop in them - people who are tired of the bulk of compiled languages or having to wait for a compiler don't have to with an interpreted language. Also, there's generally not as much of a worry about cross-platform - last I checked, Perl and PHP both run on virtually anything(although I don't know about Ruby or Python).

In the applications world? We'll see. I think that there's still a place for C++, and as videogames get bigger and bigger, we'll see more of a draw towards that - but again, Python + pygame is on the rise as well.

It's a toss-up, I suppose.

Lmao! I mean, sure it won't override C++ or Java, but with consistent addition and support added to the .NET framework, the userbase will grow bigger and more client apps / web apps will be made with it, much like what is happening now.

Java and C++ will still have their uses, as Amadeus said, "different languages are often used for different purposes".

I'm just saying .NET could well be the framework of the future because it lactates all over windows, links in with the Windows API well (from what I've seen) and it is easy to use.

If what you were saying was true Programmist, about Java taking more and more code to do simple things; if it becomes a problem Java programmers may want to make the switch to C#, as Microsoft probably intended.

Hence it won't be on top, but will still be futuristic.

The future will definitely be full of the new dynamic languages

Python, Groovy, and Ruby will become the most popular in my opinion. But who knows what new language may surface next?

Java, C++, etc. will still have their place. Sure, people will say that they are dying.. but in reality every language is dying, time never stops flowing - and technology never stops moving on.

Maybe the future is just bleak.

I believe it will be Java and PHP Those are the ones widely used now Along with .net technologies.

This post has been edited by Mikhail: 5 Jun, 2008 - 08:11 PM

Although I don't know many of the young languages, I think that it is likely that either a young language now or a new one will come raising to the top.

In the last few years there have been some significant lessons learned in the area of languages. I think the new version of Java is likely to add many of those features but at the same time I think Programmist is right. This will probably overly complicate the platform.

The same can probably said for C++ 0x

So there is room for a language that can encapsulate the power of the advancements without creating an overly complex platform.

The more OOP the language is and the more RAD it become.. the more chances it will stay on top..

That goes for .net .. eventhough I don't how to do anything with it..

still learning JAVA and I think it's a solid language but if what programmist say is true "that the future update will most likely make simple task require more code... " well i'll probably be shifting with .net..

if you could make complicated things, easier and faster.. well its better..
OOP RAD tools.. rocks..

As girasquid said, I think things are moving towards the web. For applications that stay on the computers I think python would be great if they were able to enhance the speed a bit (like have the program compile once instead of having an ongoing compile as it runs). The reason I lean towards python is just because of the amoun of things you can do with it right after you pick it up. There are so many possibilities and it is such an easy language to learn that anyone can do it (well I guess there may be a few people who aren't able to, but that is to be expected in today's society).

However I believe that any way you cut it C and C++ will stay around and be the base language used for all computers, as it has been for some time and reqriting applications is just something that people hate to have to do. It all depends on what the major corporations get into, Microsoft will probably try to hype up C# (as a lot of their applications seem to be made with it these days). But I am not positive.

There are my hopes and dreams for the future of programming languages.

I don't think anything controlled right now by a single company will last. It's only a matter of time until Sun or Microsoft decides to discontinue support for Java/C#. This will matter less with Java because it's slowly becoming "open source", but if Microsoft abandons C# it will effectively die. I'm not naive enough to say that Microsoft is going to miraculously disappear anytime in the near future, but I think there is more than enough evidence showing that Microsoft likes to release new technologies, convince everyone and their mum to switch to said technologies, and then ditch said technologies in favour of something fresh out of the Microsoft oven.

I think the overall trend will be towards "managed" languages, though not necessarily one that exists now. I suppose it depends on how far into the future we're talking.

This post has been edited by Tom9729: 8 Jun, 2008 - 03:21 PM