In the past few years, the field of programming languages has undergone tremendous changes. On the one hand, languages such as Java and Kotlin have attracted the attention of many developers in enterprise and mobile development; on the other hand, the JavaScript ecosystem, which is critical to web development, has also It is constantly expanding; the features of programming languages such as TypeScript and C++ have ushered in major updates.
Next, we will review with you the major events of programming languages in 2017 and analyze their future development trends.
Java's twisty road
After a long time, JDK 9 was officially released in September 2017 after many bounces. As the latest implementation of the Java standard, it has caused controversy because of its modular technology. Although the modular system was designed to provide scalability, performance and security advantages, key players including Red Hat and IBM disagreed with Oracle implementing it. They expressed concerns about app compatibility and voted against the original proposal. It was not until the final revision that the opponents were satisfied, and the review proposal was passed, clearing the way for the delayed version.
The next release, JDK 10, is scheduled to roll out quickly in March 2018, with features such as type deduction for local variables and a garbage collector interface.
And Java EE, Oracle has put it under the management of the Eclipse Foundation. At the same time, Oracle released Java EE 8 at the same time as Java 9. Java EE 8 includes features such as cloud, HTML5, and HTTP/2.
future trends
In the past year, as Google began to embrace Kotlin and Python rose for artificial intelligence, many developers began to think that Java's dominance was about to be replaced.
Compared with the TIOBE rankings in previous years, Java usage has indeed declined, but it still ranks first. At the same time, according to the analysis of the " 2017 Developer Productivity Report " released by RebelLabs in November last year , Java 8 is as high as 72% among the main programming languages used by developers. Finally, the data from the StackOverFlow survey report and the IEEE Spectrum rankings are integrated. Although the scoring standards and the people involved in these lists are different, in any list, Java occupies the top three positions in programming languages, and is undoubtedly the largest. winner.
From the perspective of the overall Internet development environment, the application direction of the Java language is mainly reflected in three aspects:
In large and medium-sized enterprise applications, such as complex large enterprise software systems, various types of websites;
Desktop applications, namely C/S applications, are mainly used to develop desktop applications running on different operating systems;
Mobile development applications, such as Android development, Java game development, etc.
Based on the above stable rankings and billions of devices are all applications developed by Java, in the next year, it cannot be said that the rise of other languages will have no impact on this old language, but I want to shake Java in the short term. The location is no easy task.
A big update to JavaScript
In web development, 2017 saw major version updates for many JavaScript tools, including:
Angular 5 in November: Includes a build optimizer that supports progressive web apps and Material Design components.
React 16 in September: The React core was rewritten to be more responsive for complex applications.
Angular 4 in March: Focus on building smaller apps.
At the same time, TypeScript has also ushered in several updates:
TypeScript 2.6 in November has strict pattern markers and error suppression comments.
TypeScript 2.5 in August made complex rewrites easier.
TypeScript 2.4 in June has a dynamic presentation feature that makes applications more resource efficient.
TypeScript 2.3 in April supports ECMAScript asynchronous generators and iterators.
TypeScript 2.2 in February emphasized compatibility with the React Native framework to better build native mobile apps.
TypeScript 2.7, coming in January 2018, will improve type inference for object literals.
future trends
Previously, Coding Dojo (coding dojo) analyzed 25 programming languages from Indeed, and concluded that more than 80% of developers and 95% of websites use JavaScript to implement dynamic logic on pages. And in the future, as the Internet of Things and mobile devices become more and more popular, JavaScript front-end frameworks such as React and AngularJS have huge future potential.
Now, according to the latest JavaScript Annual Survey , React seems to have more room to grow in 2018.
Spark of Fire - Kotlin
Kotlin, which became the first-level language supported by Android's official support development, was a rising star in 2017. The versions launched in 2017 include:
Kotlin 1.2 was released in November, offering experimental functionality to reuse code on multiple platforms. Java 9 is supported.
Kotlin 1.1 was released in March with support for JavaScript.
future trends
Time is running out until TIOBE announces its programming language of the year. In December's TIOBE index, Kotlin and C were named programming language of the year candidates. Whether Kotlin will eventually be spent, we will have to wait a few days.
However, Kotlin, which is popular because of Google, from the perspective of developers, does make the code more concise, reduces the amount of code for developers, and improves the efficiency of Android programming. However, Kotlin, which is still in the Android development stage, can only be said to be worth a try, and it is still necessary to judge whether it is suitable or not according to the project.
Microsoft releases quantum programming language - Q#
Following the huge investment in quantum computers, Microsoft in December launched a new programming language called "Q#" (pronounced Q Sharp), a specific language for expressing quantum algorithms that combines traditional programming Concepts such as functions, variables, branches, and syntax-highlighting development environments and quantum debuggers are brought to the field of quantum computing. The language works primarily with the Visual Studio IDE and is available integrated in the Quantum Development Kit. It can help programmers write software for quantum computers.
future trends
For the new language just released, Q# embodies Microsoft's thinking of using language to define behavior and language to standardize framework, and the language is an independent programming language with promising future. But for now, many developers say that quantum computers are still a long way from us and the scale of quantum circuits is too small. It is still difficult to implement the Q# language in practical applications.
C++ for programming speed
This year saw the release of C++17, which aims to make C++ a less bloated and complex programming language to simplify everyday use of the language and make it easier for developers to write and maintain code.
Next is C++20, which is expected to be feature-complete in summer 2019 and release in 2020. It is planned to contain improvements to concurrency and library features.
future trends
As tools continue to increase, many developers find C++ more complex and more difficult to learn and use than languages such as Python or JavaScript, so they start to gradually deprecate C++, so in mid-2017, the popularity of C++ decreased , but it cannot be ignored that it is still used in many legacy systems of large enterprises, and has an irreplaceable position in game development, drivers, and client servers.
Life is too short, I use Python
2017 年，可以说是 Python 的幸运之年。2 月，Python 正式迁移到 Github （https://github.com/python/cpython）上，拥抱了 Git 版本控制系统。7 月，据 IEEE Spectrum 杂志发布的一年一度的编程语言排行榜来看，Python 一路跃升至第一名。而在国内的编程环境之下，Python 淘汰了 VB， 被列入全国计算机等级考试。
未来趋势
为什么 Python 增长的这么快？不难看出，如今从 Web 开发到数据科学，机器学习再到 DevOps，越来越多的应用是基于 Python 开发。其次，电子、制造业、软件、政务，甚至如上所说的高校，也都在主推 Python 编程语言。未来，随着这些领域对开发者需求的增长，对 Python 的需求仍将势不可挡。
总结
逐渐下滑的 Java、极具前景的 Javascript、新型 Q#、简化的 C++、飞速增长的 Python......各有千秋的编程语言，2018 年，你最看好哪种？