Android is one of the most widely used operating systems in the world. You can find it on smartphones, tablets, TVs, watches, and even cars these days. Because of being open source, it has made its way into smart homes, connected cars, etc.
The need for Android app development increased day by day with a growing number of devices running on the Android Operating system. There are two primary ways to develop android apps, Native development using Java or cross-platform development using hybrid technologies like HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript languages i.e., PhoneGap or Titanium.
To be an Android app developer you have to master Google’s official language for developing android apps – ‘Java’. However, you also have to learn some other programming languages that are used to build Android apps. There are many programming languages out there that can help to develop Android Apps.
Different Programming Languages That You Should Consider:
1) Java
Java is an Object-Oriented Programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s and released by 1995. However, it was officially called ‘Oak’ after two years of its development in late 1993. It was renamed “Java” in 1995, after the coffee plant name ‘java’. It is a fast, reliable, and secure open-source general-purpose programming language that runs on almost every operating system.
If you want to develop your project using Java language then you should get in touch with a top Java development company that can provide you an excellent service before the deadline.
2) C and C++
C and C++ are popular General purpose, multi-paradigm, compiled programming languages developed by Dennis Ritchie between 1969 and 1973 at AT&T Bell Labs. Both these languages are similar but still, they are different from each other in some ways.
3) Kotlin
Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language for modern multi-platform applications development. It can compile as JVM bytecode or JavaScript. Initially backed by JetBrains, it has now become an official language for Android app development. This language is gaining popularity since it came into existence. Kotlin is interoperable with Java and you can use Java code in Kotlin and vice versa.
4) Python
Python is a widely used high-level interpreted language that was created by Guido van Rossum in 1989. It’s known for its ease of readability and comprehensibility. Python has a huge standard library that you can use in your programs. It also supports object-oriented, functional, and procedural programming styles. Due to these features, it has become one of the most popular languages for scripting, web development, scientific computing, etc.
5) C#
C# is a multi-paradigm, general-purpose, high-performance language developed by Microsoft in the .NET initiative. This programming language derived a lot of concepts from Java and C++.
6) Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, popularly known as RoR, is a web application framework written in the Ruby programming language. It supports Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern that makes it different from other web frameworks which follow file system organization.
7) Swift
Swift is a new programming language developed by Apple Inc. It was announced at WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in 2014 and made available to the developers in 2015. Swift is designed to work with Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks. It is a fast, safe, and reliable programming language that you can use to develop iOS apps.
8) Objective C
Objective C is a general-purpose Objective-C programming language that adds Smalltalk-like messaging to the C programming language. It was originally developed in 1984 by Brad Cox and Tom Love. Objective C has been used to develop some popular iOS apps such as Twitter, Viber, LinkedIn, Foursquare, etc.
9) Perl
Perl is a high-level programming language that supports both object-oriented and functional programming styles. It was derived from many languages like BASIC, Lisp, C, Unix Shell Scripting Language, etc. Learning Perl won’t help much in developing android apps but still, it has its own set of followers who join their hands together to form a strong community. That is the reason most companies prefer hiring Perl developers only.
10) Visual Basic
Visual Basic or VB is an event-driven programming language developed by Microsoft in 1991 for the Windows platform which later became open source with various Open-Source Initiative approved licenses. It is also a user-friendly programming language which made it popular among developers. Learning VB won’t help you much in becoming Android Developer but still, it has some unique features that can make your resume stand out from the crowd.
11) Dart
Dart is an object-oriented, class-defined, single inheritance compiled programming language developed by Google Inc. It was initially named Dash and later renamed Dart in 2013 due to naming conflicts with another programming language called DART. It is used only for Web browsers and runs on a VM called dart2js or under a mode in Chromium called “checked mode” which is similar to Java’s “native method”.
12) SQL
SQL or Structured Query Language is a standard database computer language. It was designed for managing data in relational database management systems (RDBMS). SQL is used to create, read, update and delete data from a database.
13) Java SE
Java Standard Edition or Java SE is a software platform for developing portable applications. It was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems’ Java Platform. Java SE is used to develop desktop, mobile, and web applications.
14) Lua
Lua is a lightweight multi-paradigm programming language designed primarily for embedded systems and clients. The initial version of Lua was released in 1993 and the latest stable release came in on May 29, 2015.
The Benefits of Using a Programming Language for App Development are Given Below.
- It reduces the development time of the app.
- It increases the efficiency of an app.
- You can get a wide range of apps to suit your requirement if you know multiple programming languages.
- Easy to learn and apply in real-world applications.
To develop android apps, I suggest all readers try these few programming languages for developing android apps at least once. Try not to get confused about which is good for android app developers because every language has its own pros and cons depending on what all features you are planning to implement in your Android app idea, how much money you to invest.
If you want to know how much does it cost to design a mobile app, read here.