Best Programming Languages for Web Development

Online presence is a must for businesses to stay alive in today’s tech-saturated world. You should consider investing in a website if you run a business and want a solid digital footprint.

But not just a website. You need to have a website that your visitors would like to bookmark. Only in this way can you get business from your web presence.

You have guessed it right! It all boils down to the best web design and development skill set that makes a website performant, aesthetic, and responsive.

This article will revolve around only one aspect of it, which is web development. Thanks to technology advancements, we have numerous programming languages available, both classic and modern, to create websites.

As a leader in the web development industry, our programmers are masters in most of those languages. With their help, we have compiled a list of the best programming languages that will dominate the development landscape of 2023.

Best Programming Languages for Web Development in 2023

1- HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. CERN developed it in 1980 for its scientists to communicate with each other.

Developers use this language as a standard for creating web pages. According to Stack Overflow, HTML was the 2nd most popular programming language in 2020.

HTML5 is its latest version which is better than the older version in showing interactive content and multimedia on the web.

Features

• It helps you develop well-organized standard-supportive web pages
• You can use it to structure and present data on the internet and even combine it with JavaScript and CSS
• HTML5 features audio and video elements, 2D/3D graphics and local backup

Pros

•  You can easily maintain and upgrade HTML web pages
• It is user-friendly and the best language for beginners in web development
• HTML 5 is a robust technology to develop interactive online experiences
• Programmers have developed HTML5 to be more effective and convenient than older versions of HTML

Cons

• It is not a full programming language, which makes it less expressive than Javascript, PHP, or other full-fledged programming languages
• Developers can find it challenging to write complicated web pages or apps in HTML
• It has security issues, which means coders should be careful when writing user data to block safety concerns properly
• HTML exhibits multiple syntax rules and various elements, which can make it tough to learn for novices

2- JavaScript

Like HTML, JavaScript is an older programming language. World Wide Web offers three main programming languages, and one of them is Javascript (the other two are HTML and CSS).

It is a high-level, multi-paradigm, and object-oriented language. Most full-stack programmers use JavaScript, as per the Stack Overflow survey in 2020. About seventy percent of respondents said that they use Javascript for web development.

These statistics show that Javascript is among the best web development languages.

It significantly helps developers to write code for their websites’ front end by incorporating third-party libraries.

Trending web development frameworks such as Node.js, React.js, and Angular js use Javascript as their programming language.

Big websites that use JavaScript to write their front-end code

• Facebook
• Amazon
• Wikipedia
• Youtube
• Bing
• Wikipedia.org
• Pinterest
• MSN.com
• Google

Features

• Creates interactive effects within web browsers
• Can produce clickable buttons or animations and other dynamic web elements
• Rapid web development
• Make XMLHttpRequest() Object
• Has many libraries and frameworks

Pros

• Can be used for both client-side and server-side development
• Lightweight, and versatile language
• Can be easily integrated with other languages
• Simple and intuitive syntax
• You can create mobile applications, web servers, and games using Javascript
• Developers can write code for the backend of an app using JavaScript alongside Node.js
• Adaptable and dynamic programming language
• W3C standard

Cons

• Less secure
• Code always visible
• Is not compatible with all browsers
• Contemporary javascript used with Node.js technology, transpilers, and other tools can make the developer suffer from “JavaScript fatigue,” which means the coding process can become extra complicated

3- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

Developers use stylesheet languages to present documents written in markup languages like HTML. CSS is a modern and widely used stylesheet language.

When a developer codes the front and back end of their site/application in HTML, they need to style that structured document. When combined, CSS and HTML are known as the mother of all languages.

CSS explains the colors, fonts, positions, and sizes of all components in a page and the content’s layout to the server.

Features

• In CSS, an implemented style cascades down throughout a web page
• It facilitates responsive web design
• Its cascading style allows for consistency
• It offers a group of rules for online browsers, therefore can handle a marked-up code
• It can style all HTML tags like the content’s body text, paragraphs, headers, and other written components

Pros

• Beginner-friendly with loads of online resources and tutorials available
• Has a lot of implementations
• Works as well for experienced professionals as it does for novices
• Enhances page loading speed
• Makes customizing web pages easier
• Can style the display of images, table elements, and grid components
• Help programmers to develop accessible and responsive websites

Cons

• Developers sometimes face cross-browser problems while working with CSS
• CSS has many levels such as CSS, CSS2, and CSS3 which confuses users
• The bugs in CSS document is hard to track down and remove
• CSS documents might be complex and large, taking a lot of time to write and maintain

4- PHP

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose, object-oriented scripting language created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and launched in 1995.

Developers use PHP to create server-sides of data-intensive and dynamic websites. Despite being a very old coding language for websites, PHP has not lost its charm for developers, and frameworks such as WordPress and Drupal use it.

Features

• Various external plugins such as MySQL, Apache, and .NET
• It supports cloud services
• It can yield PDF, pictures, written material, HTML, and graphics
• Its code is rendered on the server which then sends outcomes to the browser

Big websites that use PHP to write their back-end code

• Flickr
• Yahoo
• Tumblr
• Wikipedia
• Facebook
• Friendster
• Istockphoto

Pros

• Intuitive language
• Free to use
• Performant
• It can be used in different use cases
• Most PHP-based frameworks are highly secure and free to use
• It offers libraries and modules which help to create dynamic websites
• PHP powers most websites and CMS (content management systems)
• Super scalable
• A large community of developers
• A preferred option for web apps
• Supports cross-platform development
• Users can easily embed PHP code into HTML

Cons

• You can only develop web pages using PHP
• Its popularity is decreasing
• Slower than other programming languages
• You need to have a basic understanding of HTML to use PHP
• It can’t be used to write desktop apps
• The customization options make it difficult to find bugs, which makes the language more error-prone

5- Python

In 1991, Guido van Rossum created a high-level and open-source interpreted programming language. Like the four above-mentioned languages on our list, Python is not behind in terms of popularity.

Python is one of the back-end development languages that offer in-depth support modules and can be integrated with web services.

Developers have created GUI-driven desktop apps using this language. It is also an Ideal language to create apps that use technologies like deep learning and machine learning.

Big websites, games that use Python to write code

• Youtube
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Quora
• Vegas Trike
• Toontown
• Civilization IV

Features

• You can create 2D and 3D animation packages and imaging such as Inkscape, Autodesk, and Blender
• It allows developers to type dynamically
• Integrable with languages such as Java, C, C#
• Developers can build web apps, artificial intelligence, scientific computing, and more using Python
• You can earn an average income of almost AED 312,803 per year as a python developer 

Pros

• User-friendly and a highly readable language
• Python helps developers to develop the back ends of sites efficiently
• Simple syntax
• It has multiple computational and scientific applications such as Abacus and FreeCAD
• Highly scalable
• OOP traits make coding easy
• A high emphasis on code readability
• Facilitates building sophisticated websites that require frequent content updates

Cons

• Not recommended to write mobile apps
• Programming is slow due to its interpreted nature

6- Java

Experts consider Java to be the most stable and among the best languages for web development. It has been at the pinnacle for like two decades.

What is the secret of its success? You need to code it only once and then use it multiple times in any project. Amazing! Isn’t it?

It’s the reason that fortune 500 firms prefer java to develop the server sides of their projects. Acquired by Oracle, Java is an object-oriented and class-based language developed to have minimum application dependencies.

Features

• It is a general-purpose programming language designed to allow users to write once, and run anywhere
• You can compile code once and run it on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or any other operating system without recompiling
• Java apps can function on any JVM or Java virtual machine as they are usually compiled to bytecode
• It has a similar syntax as C++ and C language but exhibits fewer low-level abilities than these languages

Pros

• Perfect for anyone willing to jump into the web development industry
• A high-level language that offers a simple syntax that can be easily learned to use
• It has an active community of millions of programmers from around the world
• It offers multithreading and automatic memory management
• Large organizations typically use java for web development
• It’s a versatile and ubiquitous language
• It features cross-platform compatibility
• Fewer security threats

Cons

• Slow performance
• Complicated and lengthy programming
• Developers have to learn multiple new pieces of vocabulary to code in Java
• Consumes more storage space

Big websites that use Java to write code

• Aws.amazon.com
• Ebay.com
• Linkedin.com
• Ebay.co.uk
• Aliexpress.com
• Bitbucket.org

7- Swift

Apple launched Swift in 2014 to develop performant, robust native applications for iOS, tvOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, Linux, and z/OS. Swift is a general-purpose, high-level, and object-oriented language.

This coding language for websites has been thriving rapidly and is now the thirteenth most preferred language by Pull Request.

Apple released Swift to replace its old programming language, Objective-C. Objective-C lacked the latest features and had not been updated since its inception.

Swift is a famous open-source technology and is very easy to learn. It is secure thanks to its layout which inspires developers to code clean, readable, and consistent.

Features

• Swift is a compiled and multi-paradigm programming language
• Apple has created Swift from scratch to fulfill the demands of contemporary iOS development with high performance
• It is compatible with nearly everything from Objective-C
• You can use it with IBM Bluemix and IBM Swift Sandbox
• It runs with apple’s frameworks like Cocoa Touch and Cocoa

Pros

• Rapid speed
• Supports most platforms
• Offers scalability
• Full stack potential

Cons

• A new language
• Not compatible with older iOS versions
• Small community

Bottom Line

An attention-grabbing website can convert reluctant customers in minutes. Web presence is key to increasing customer acquisition, retention, and return on investment. You need a website that converts and not confuses visitors.

Digital Gravity is a renowned Web development company that has been creating and maintaining functional and fast websites. Our magicians will build a powerful website that boosts your bottom line. Get in touch to get a website today!

FAQs

1- What is a programming language?
It is a computing language developers utilize to create scripts, programs, or other software for machines to run.

2- Who needs web design services?

Small companies require an attractive website design because they can’t risk losing customers. However, web design services are needed for any business that wants to build a beautiful website.

3- What is a back-end programming language?

Back-end programming language is utilized to respond to requests made by the user. It restores data from a database saved in a server and then processes it via an application.

4- What is a web programming language?

Web development includes writing, markup, and coding programs like web content, server scripting, web client, and network security, and this process is called web programming. Common web programming languages include HTML, XML, PHP, Perl5, and JavaScript.