1 Python
The TIOBE index makes Python the most popular programming language in the world – or at least, the one people want to know about more than any other. A major part of its appeal is that Python uses a small vocabulary of simple instructions, mostly with plain English names, so it’s very easy for a beginner to jump in and start writing working programs. Python is relaxed about variables: you can work with numbers and strings without having to explicitly define your data types, and you don’t need to worry about memory usage, as the interpreter automatically deallocates variables and program structures that are no longer needed (“garbage collection”).
While it’s easy to get started in Python, you can use it to create almost any kind of program, from a simple string-processing tool to a fast-action arcade game. Hundreds of free libraries provide functions that you can drop into your programs to add capabilities from website publishing to image editing, data analysis and machine learning.
Python is particularly associated with the Raspberry Pi, as it comes preinstalled with the Pi OS, and reflects the platform’s unfancy philosophy. However, the official Python interpreter is also available for Windows, macOS and numerous Linux distributions, and there’s a huge range of third-party development environments to help you create and debug your code.
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2 C 4 C++ 5 C ♯
Originally introduced 50 years ago, C’s enduring
