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How many programming languages do you know?

Ben Halpern on December 23, 2021

Feel free to offer a personal definition of "know" ๐Ÿ˜…

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy ๐ŸŽ–๏ธ

Taking 'know' as being 'languages I've written a program in'...

  • ZX Spectrum BASIC
  • Z80 Assembler
  • C
  • Pascal
  • Haskell
  • Lua
  • Visual BASIC
  • AMOS BASIC
  • PowerBASIC (is it cheating listing so many flavours of BASIC? ๐Ÿ˜‹)
  • C++
  • C#
  • PHP
  • Lua
  • Ruby
  • Go
  • Python
  • Shell
  • JavaScript
  • Prolog
  • PERL

Also wrote my own scripting language for creating "wizards" to guide users through common tasks in a system... does that count?

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turry profile image
Turry

Dayum

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thomasjunkos profile image
Thomas Junkใƒ„

(c) 1982 Sinclair Research Ltd

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eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

I now remember that I had forgotten AMOS BASIC on my list. :-D

I just punted anyway and said "several flavors".

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy ๐ŸŽ–๏ธ

The creators of AMOS have a new project that is very similar - AOZ Studio

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Jesse M. Holmes

No TI-BASIC? lol

I have two books here next to my desk for writing in BASIC. One of them is for games. It was such a different world back then!

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Rushan S J

what's the name of the language your created ?

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy ๐ŸŽ–๏ธ

I didn't name it - it was only ever used internally. I built interpreters to run the wizard scripts both on a desktop app (Visual Basic), and on the web

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Calin Baenen

Well, I know C++ (to a moderate extent), Java, JavaScript (and TypeScript, if you'd like to distinguish the two), and Janky (the not-popular popular programming language I want to make).
If you include HTML, there's that, too.
Oh, and there's Python, but I rarely code in that now days, so I just say "I forgot, I know nothing.".

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Sherry Day

I'd say 5: JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Java, Swift. There are a few more I could hack my way through, but probably couldn't really right a solid program without a solid amount of learning.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Similar to my list

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Deepu K Sasidharan • Edited

Know as in I can read it and write descent code in it

  • Java, Kotlin, Groovy, Scala
  • JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS/Sass
  • Rust
  • Golang
  • C# Can read and write code but probably not the best code
  • Python, Ruby, Shell, C, C++, PHP and probably few more
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Shrubs • Edited

Well it's an odd one.. I'm an electrician by trade who moved onto industrial automation.

I'm constantly being thrown in the deep end and need to pickup a new language at the drop of a hat. So here is a list that I have covered over the last 20yrs..

PLC programming , C++ (current role), VB, C#, Java, PHP, SQL, Pascal and some strange lisp hybrid .. plus the odd industrial equipment (gcode , robots etc)

It's like my current role, took on as a PLC programmer then a 3rd party embedded OPC UA server they were using had terrible performance and there was no alternative in the market for there application.. so I ended up writing an OPC UA server in C++ that needed to be functional within a few months to meet project deadlines... 2 years later, I met the deadline and still adding features to this day.

Before this job I never touched C or C++ before this kind of thing happens all the time to me don't know if it's common place or I'm just a stress junkie ๐Ÿ˜‚ but I feel I can pick up any language quite quickly when under pressure.

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Lucia Cerchie • Edited

I can use JS and Python, also can hack my way around Golang and TS as of right now.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Which was the hardest to pick up?

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cerchie profile image
Lucia Cerchie • Edited

Great question! JS was my first coding experience, so that was the most difficult for sure. Golang has the most 'different' syntax and rules re assignments and mutability of all of them, so that's proving to be my biggest obstacle right now, but TypeScript is deceptively difficult in that it's an entirely different language from JS (not a framework) and I didn't realize that fully before diving in. Python's been by far the easiest.

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cerchie profile image
Lucia Cerchie

How about for you? We have a couple in common I think.

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cerchie profile image
Lucia Cerchie • Edited

oh and I guess I forgot to include SQL, JSON, and GraphQL. I think of those less as programming languages (disclaimer: do not know the official def for a programming language; I know folks like to get technical with it but who am I to deny someone CSS or whatever they code in) and more like ways to represent or request data.

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Jon Lauridsen • Edited

Hm, I guess TS/Js, Python, C#, Ruby. It'd be too weird to write MEL here, it was an obscure 3D authoring scripting language.

Should we count SQL too? :)

Do you think more languages are automatically better? I felt I became a much better programmer (more confident, more aware) when I broadened out from just Python, but I don't think adding 1 or 2 more now would give me any real boost. Maybe if I tapped into a truly functional languageโ€ฆ hm.

I just remembered, when I put Ruby on my skills the recruiters came rushing at me, it was just a crazy uptick, so there are more marketable languages than others!

I'd generally recommend developers learn one or two other languages if possible. Would you recommend devs to broaden out?

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Salah Elhossiny

4

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Are you happy with the list as is for a while or do you intend to broaden?

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Salah Elhossiny

of course i will broaden but according to a plan

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

What's the plan?

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Jรฉrรฉmie Astor

I second that, what's the plan?

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Eljay-Adobe • Edited

BASIC (a dozen different flavors), Assembly (6502, 65816, 68000, 68030, 80386, SPARC, PowerPC, Alpha), LISP/Scheme, FORTRAN, Pascal, C, C++ (from 2e to C++17), Object Pascal, Objective-C, C#, Perl, Python, Perl, F#, Lua, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Prolog. Peripherally programming languages (depending on one's definition) would include SQL, WPF/XAML, Eve 0.8, Eve 2.0, HTML & CSS.

I'm only including languages that I've worked with a lot for a year or longer.

I'm not including language exposure for fun. Like with Logo, Squeak, Boo!, Groovy, CoffeeScript, Swift, Elm, Rust, GLSL, and many many more. I'm not including command scripting languages or shell scripting languages, that be another few dozen.

Next year I plan on learning Clojure. It'll be interesting to see what you get if you add functional programming to LISP.

On my future list also has: Haskell, Scala, Kotlin, (more) Rust, (more) Swift, and Go.

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Vincent A. Cicirello • Edited

My Current Preferred Programming Languages: Java, Python

Other Programming Languages I Know: Assembly, AWK, C, C++, Common Lisp, Fortran, JavaScript, Pascal, Perl, Prolog, Scheme, SETL, Tcl, Visual Basic. Some of these I haven't used in a long time.

Other (data, query, markup, etc) languages: CSS, GraphQL, HTML, LaTeX, Markdown, SQL, SVG, XML, YAML

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Bervianto Leo Pratama

Maybe more than 10. ๐Ÿ˜

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Ben Halpern • Edited

Which?

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berviantoleo profile image
Bervianto Leo Pratama

C#, Elixir, C, C++, Java, Typescript, Python, Javascript, Kotlin, Dart, Haskell, etc.

But, well. I only use C#, Typescript and Python for my daily task.

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Lars Grammel

I've worked extensively with:

  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript

I've written code in:

  • Prolog
  • GW BASIC
  • QuickBasic
  • Visual Basic
  • CoffeeScript
  • Go
  • Scala
  • Pascal
  • Delphi
  • Smalltalk
  • Haskell
  • Perl
  • C
  • Python
  • Shell
  • a tiny bit of assembler (forgot which one)
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Lembani Sakala

Know as in the ones I've used to write software in:

  • Javascript
  • C++
  • Java
  • Swift
  • Dart
  • PHP

Some others i've only tried them out eg Golang, Rust etc

I mainly work with JavaScript, Typescript, Swift and Dart

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Alexandre Plt

My definition of knowing a language has evolved into "I know my way around the language, I can do stuff without relying 100% on the documentation".

My list is as follows

  • Nim
  • C++
  • Python
  • Javascript
  • ArkScript
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Code White Dev • Edited
  • Html ( well it doesn't count as "PROGRAMMING LANGUGE")
  • CSS,SASS Tailwindcss, I know tailwind is not a programming laungage, but it fells good whenu say it ;)
  • Js, Ts and other framworks like React,Next
  • Node - mostly for backend
  • python

and for game dev

  • unrealscript
  • C# ( used once in a life, unreal engine is enough)

definition of Know - i don't know :p

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Jakub T. Jankiewicz

I know those:

  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • PHP
  • R
  • Bash
  • Lisp (mostly Scheme)
  • SQL (not exactly programming language)

I know but didn't use them anymore:

  • Ruby
  • CoffeeScript
  • Java
  • C++
  • 32bit Assembler
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Pandademic • Edited

I know just enough to write some strange stuff in :

  • ruby
  • python
  • batch
  • CSS
  • SCSS/SASS
  • HTML

I know a bit of:

  • rust
  • haskel
  • bash
  • go
  • JS

I am learning perl,
I also a know a bit of a few languages that you may not have heard of like red and V

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Ferenc Radius

Depends on 'know'
native:
python (9 years on job), javascript(22 years), typescript (last project, love it)

good:
c# (3 years on job), java (3 years on job)

never my thing, but need it some times:
shell/bash

also done in the past:
php (6 years), actionscript

Did some sunday hobby stuff with (Not good enough for job ;)):
ruby/golang/rust

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HS

Let's say Java, Kotlin, JavaScript as my standard of know. Then C#, PHP as I knew but would need couple of weeks to refresh if I was to start a new project. Then Groovy, TypeScript as in used it but didn't really see to much difference from the others. Python and Go used it but never actually did a bigger project. Then C++ as in learned long time ago and could re-learn.

So if you exclude C++ I would say know as in could build a project decently would be 9. If you include C++ because I could re-learn stuff then throw in Scala as well and you have 11.

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Thomas Junkใƒ„

I would better describe it as ยปLanguages I once knewยซ or ยปLanguages I was at some point in my life able to write programs inยซ

6501 Assembler
C64 BASIC
C128 BASIC
Action Script
AMIGA BASIC
Bash
C
C#
C++
CoffeeScript
Delphi
Elixir
Elm
F#
Go
Groovy
Haskell
Java
Javascript
Ocaml
Pascal
Perl
Powershell
Prolog
Python
Ruby
Smalltalk
Scratch
SQL
ZX 81 BASIC
ZX Spectrum BASIC

But today it comes down to Javascript, Python, Go and SQL.

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Joe Mainwaring

I wouldn't consider myself proficient today in all of these languages, but in 20 years I've learned and worked with:

  • C++
  • JavaScript
  • PHP
  • Ruby
  • .NET/VBA
  • Python
  • TypeScript

My Language of Choice today is TypeScript.

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Oscar Ortiz

I been using JavaScript for a while, but do use CSS when I need to style my web pages.

I dunno if HTML is considered one but thatโ€™s another one.

Been trying to learn C# to creat Unity games. Itโ€™s been really fun to program lately

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Martin Himmel • Edited

Proficiently, PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript. They pay the bills, so that's where my main focus is.

I could probably get back into Java pretty quickly if I needed to. I did Android development for about a year just before Kotlin was available. Other languages I've dabbled in include Ruby, Python, C, C++, and C#. I couldn't start something from scratch in any of those (except C# in a Unity context) without some refresher/relearning time.

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Riccardo Bernardini • Edited

Languages that I know well and I can be productive in time-zero (modulo some "memory refreshing"):

  • BASIC (yes, I am that old)
  • FORTRAN (see above)
  • C
  • C++ (the power, the simplicity and the safety of a hand grenade)
  • Pascal (original Wirth and Borland "turbo")
  • Few assemblers (mostly Z80 and Intel)
  • PostScript (yes, PS is a fully-fledged language with loops, arrays, and stuff and, yes, I actually wrote programs with that)
  • Tcl/Tk
  • LISP (emacs dialect mostly)
  • PERL (ugh! The language closest to "line noise" I ever used)
  • PHP (double ugh! But sometimes it is unavoidable)
  • JavaScript (see PHP)
  • bash and other shell scripting stuff
  • Ruby (great for fast-and-dirty programs that are too complex for shell scripting)
  • Matlab (great for experimental number-crunching)
  • Ada (the preferred one, especially for long-lived and complex code)
  • SPARK/Ada, the Ada dialect suitable for formal checking (great stuff!)

Languages I had some experience with and that I would need few days of studying to get fully productive

  • Python
  • FORTH (I already said I am old, didn't I?)
  • Java
  • Mathematica
  • VHDL
  • awk (used only for very simple stuff)

Languages that I read something about that, I know their "philosophy," but I never used them (pretty weird stuff)

  • PROLOG
  • Simula
  • Eiffel
  • Haskell
  • COBOL

Borderline languages (stuff that were not designed to be actual programming languages, but they end up being Turing-complete by accident)

  • TeX/LaTeX
  • HTML/CSS
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ryencode profile image
Ryan Brown

My flippant answer is: both Zero and All.
Zero on account of I "know" parts of languages, enough to use and perform my duties,
All on account of I "know" enough theory as to what the effect I want done to the silicon with an abstract understanding of the machine language used to do those things. Understanding that programming languages are abstractions over that, they are different tools to accomplish the same underlying tasks.

But I don't know lisp yet ;)

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Ravi Krishnappa

The next iteration of this survey should focus on the languages used by the dev.to member in the last 5 years to build something. And to also get another feedback about the approximate number of users using that application.

I know Python, Java, Go, Rust, Julia, SQL, PL/SQL, C, C++, C#, COBOL, JavaScript, R,TypeScript and Assembly. But I have used Python, JavaScript and SQL to build custom business applications.

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Yaniv Noema

My list (Most used at the top):
C++
Python
TypeScript and JavaScript
C#
HTML & CSS
Dart
MATLAB

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Lindsay Wardell

At this point in my career, I've professionally written:

  • Javascript/Typescript (including Node, React, Vue, Svelte, and Electron as runtimes/frameworks)
  • PHP
  • SQL
  • Java
  • C#
  • Ruby
  • Elm
  • Haskell
  • Docker (does it count? It's fairly specific)
  • HTML/CSS (whether they're programming languages or not isn't important)

Also used an old development platform called "Magic" from the 90's, I was maintaining a legacy app for a couple years and it occasionally needed UX updates for new workflows.

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Rajvir Singh

Almost every language. As a programmer, I know pretty much every basic concept of any language. So there is nothing more to learn, other than syntax that is what you will forget and search again on google. I always memorize what a language can do and what it can't do, and then when I want to do something in that language, I will remember if it can do or not, If it can do that task then I search it up on google with the language as a keyword in the query.

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Nate

I would define 'know' to be a language in which I'd confidently embark on a journey to build anything from a small script to a new social media platform, and with that definition, I know:

  • Go
  • Python

With that said, I have a working knowledge of:

  • C, C++, C#
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • Bash

And although I don't consider these languages, I also am familiar with the following formats:

  • Markdown
  • HTML
  • XML
  • JSON
  • CSS
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Ben Halpern

Anything in the other 16 you'd want to try in a professional context?

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Lazar Lukic

Daily working with Go, JavaScript(node.js), a bit of Rust. In the past worked with Java and C#. And of course bash, for scripting :D

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Amrin

one

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Which?

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coderamrin profile image
Amrin

javascript :)

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Alessandro Pischedda

C
C++
Python
JavaScript
Golang
Just little bit of Ruby (used years ago)

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Aneeqa Khan

Only Javascript

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Ben Halpern

Lots you can do with just JS!

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Peter Mbanugo
  1. C# & JS.
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sid

Javascript, Python, Swift
Not that many, I know

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Ben Halpern

You can do a heck of a lot with those three!

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Liftoff Studios

Hmm. Let me contemplate...... So I think I know the following languages decently

JavaScript
Python
Rust
HTML
CSS (Can html and css count lol)

I also know a few frameworks

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Nicholas Stimpson • Edited

None. For a sufficiently rigorous definition of "know".

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SaptakBhoumik

I know python,c and c++

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Yinka Adedire

Javascrippt/Typescript - Only

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euankennedy profile image
Euan

0.44

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Yechiel Kalmenson

Languages I've worked with professionally:

  • Ruby
  • Python
  • Go
  • C++
  • Kotlin
  • SQL
  • HTML/CSS
  • JavaScript
  • PHP
  • Shell/PowerShell
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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

C++, JavaScript and Lil nice touch of Rust and PHP

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Alex Howez

1 :,)

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albedios profile image
Albedios

.C
.C++
.C#
.PHP
.JavaScript
.Java

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Drew Ronsman

Some of the language I've only written one program lol

Javscript
Scratch(if i counts lol)
Python
Bash
Ti-Basic
C
C#
C++
Go

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Zhomart

At level

  1. Java
  2. Javascript
  3. Python
  4. C++
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saviorys

Do u think it's better to "know" a lot of languages, or master few of them....

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webpig profile image
ๆœฑๅฎๅŽ

Listen or Learn๏ผš
JavaScript
TypeScript
Go
C
C++
C#
Rust
Java
Kotlin
Dart
Swift
Object-C
Other...

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Kavindu Santhusa • Edited

Know python, JavaScript, CSS.

Also I have my own language Unv
site-git-editor-unv.vercel.app/pla...

But most important thing
Developers should know maths and logic.

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Syed Faraaz Ahmad

I know quite a few but I think at this point it feels like saying I know how to use 10 screwdrivers

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Warisul Imam

Let's see.

  • python
  • javascript
  • julia
  • bash
  • c/c++
  • kotlin

And markup, styling, and query languages

  • LaTex
  • SQL
  • HTML
  • CSS
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turry profile image
Turry

Python and C#

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Ishaan Sheikh • Edited

C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP and Python.

Here Know means, Programming languages I have ever written a program in.๐Ÿ˜„

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manu
  • Definitely JavaScript because I'm obsessed with
  • PHP? kinda
  • HTML (Not a programming language, but whatever)
  • Python
  • Good enough knowledge about CSS
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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

BASIC
Z80 Assembly
Turbo Pascal
8086 Assembly
dbase
Forth
SQL
C#
JAVA
Action Script
Rebol
Python
Javascript
Rust

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Martin Jableฤnรญk

Python, C#, Kotlin, Dart, JavaScript, Bash

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Javier RV

C#
Vb
Php
JavaScript
C++
Java

Very few language's. I think that to fully master and upgrade you need to focus on one environment, now deepened only NET

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Uriel Bitton

Java
C++
PHP
Ruby
JavaScript
Python
Prolog
TypeScript
HTML/CSS

The rest are all frameworks and libraries like react, angular, node, etc

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Rick Delpo

Java, Javascript, SQL, Python

I offer some free tutorials for beginners at
howtolearnjava.com

my tutorial #6 compares Java to Python with an example

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Kosuke Ri
  • C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • Object-C
  • Swift
  • Javascript
  • Dart
  • Python
  • PHP
  • Typescript
  • Html
  • CSS
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เซฎเผผโš†๏ธฟโš†เผฝใค

All except Brainfฯ…ck since most of them are in English ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern
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DevByJESUS

PHP , JS , JAVA , Python(4/10 last months I donโ€™t have done so much )
These four mainly
A little bit of Typescript and thatโ€™s all

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HITESH SINHA • Edited

Just Python and JS.......a beginner I guess...

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Suraj

Good in js with react library! Also good knowledge in python.

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DevFranPR

I've worked with:

  • PHP
  • JS
  • Java And know a little of :
    • C#
    • TS But I've no mastered one language yet and I'm having a hard time chosing. Know seems like a loose term btw.
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ArjunanTk

I wish to learn programming languages like javascript, python, angular Js.... I need some ideas to learn all above languages.. Need ideas about method of learning