Essential Programming Languages for Web Developers

As more and more people use tablets and smartphones as their primary devices for work and communication, web development has seen dramatic changes over the past two decades. In spite of the continued importance of laptops and desktops in the workplace, remote work, and other professional activities, web development has lost some of its shine as mobile programming has become a more popular alternative for many new and seasoned programmers.

While mobile development is certainly exciting, it’s important to remember that traditional web development is still the engine that drives today’s technologies and the Internet. Individuals still need websites and web apps to market their small business, club, group, or innovative new idea, just as corporations still need websites to interact with customers. Because of this, it’s safe to assume that the need for new websites won’t go away any time soon.

Choosing the right language to learn for becoming a website developer can be challenging, as modern web development is driven by a mix of established programming languages with storied histories and up-and-coming languages that have built off the successes of the old guard while adding their own unique features and tools. To help you get started on your path to becoming a web developer, we’ve highlighted three languages and the features that set them apart.

JavaScript

JavaScript should always be at the top of any recommended languages for web development. JavaScript is, without a question, the most popular language among web developers around the world. Also, it’s the only language that can be used to build both desktop and mobile web apps (using frameworks like React Native). JavaScript’s flexibility and scalability make it a great choice for developing websites in the present day, when most businesses care about making sure their sites work well on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices.

What makes JavaScript so powerful is not just that it can run on any browser and server (thanks to NodeJS), but also the vast collection of frameworks and modules that enhance JavaScript’s usability when creating websites and apps. The large global JavaScript developer community is always producing useful new frameworks like Angular and React and Node, which provide developers with simple solutions to common problems and flaws, as well as tools and plugins that can automate code and improvements to the core language. The native community is constantly crowdsourcing new solutions and tools to continuously improve the language, and the international community provides all the benefits of any well-supported language, including a wide variety of resources for getting help with coding issues or finding open sourced solutions to them, as well as frequently asked questions and networking opportunities to work with other JavaScript developers.

Python

Python is a popular alternative to JavaScript for web development and has become increasingly important in other sectors where extensive programming is required, such as data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and others. Python’s syntax is generally touted as the closest to plain English, and it has a low learning curve and sound structural concepts that make it straightforward to understand, making it one of the finest languages for novice programmers to learn.

Python, like JavaScript, has a large and active community behind it, and it comes with a wealth of helpful frameworks, libraries, and tools that may speed up the development of web applications by both novice and seasoned programmers. Full-stack web applications, for instance, may be developed with Django without the need for developers to manually integrate a wide range of technologies or write copious amounts of unnecessary and repetitive code. Or, there’s Flask, a minimalist web development framework that gives programmers more freedom to make changes “under the hood” and create unique applications.

Python’s approach to programming is less constrained than those of other languages (like Java). It supports numerous programming paradigms and languages, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional approaches. Due to the nature of the startup setting, where strategies may need to be changed at any time and without any notice, Python is an ideal language for this type of work. Python also facilitates rapid prototyping and iterations, which greatly improves developers’ ease of work and output. It’s a win-win for small businesses and people who don’t have access to large budgets or large development teams because it can reduce the amount of time, resources, and money needed to create a website.

PHP

PHP is commonly used for server-side or back-end programming, which is why it is often overlooked for front-end web development. PHP is essentially a general-purpose language that has a large and active community behind it, which is constantly working to improve it. PHP is considered a “back-end” language because its processing occurs on the server, while the “front-end” (or client-side) only sees the HTML code that is rendered by the user’s web browser.

Even though PHP can retrieve data from a server and insert it into the DOM, it lacks the power of languages like JavaScript when it comes to manipulating HTML. But PHP may also be used to initiate sessions, apply scripts to HTML, and connect to a variety of databases.

WordPress uses the PHP programming language and has its own set of API (application programming interface) keywords. Common words for WordPress coders include hooks, actions, filters, the loop, templates, themes, and plugins.
WordPress uses PHP for its core files, but it also contains a plethora of other useful features, such as functions, hooks, classes, and methods, that may be used by you or developers to add new capabilities to the platform.
The great thing about WordPress is that everything you need in terms of PHP is already written for you in the form of the WordPress software itself, as well as WordPress themes and WordPress plugins.

While more technically-inclined WordPress users may desire to learn PHP in order to make extensive adjustments, the average user of WordPress can ignore PHP entirely.

Having said so, it is to one’s advantage to familiarize oneself with PHP’s fundamentals. You may make some simple but important changes to your WordPress site by understanding even the most basic PHP methods.