Intro
Diamonds are forever. Programming languages aren’t - at least not in the same way.
As Fractional and Interim CTO I’ve had to advise on choosing a programming language more than once. Often companies want to simplify their stack (e.g., TypeScript on frontend and backend). Sometimes new languages/frameworks reduce complexity (e.g., moving from iOS/Android apps to Flutter/Dart). And sometimes a company simply outgrows its initial stack (PHP can be fine early on, but can become harder to maintain at scale, especially with larger teams—making it more expensive over time).
In my opinion there are no bad programming languages—just languages that fit a job better or worse.
So where do you check which language might fit a certain challenge? Which languages are widely used? And where is talent available?
Resources
I usually use these four:
- Stack Overflow Developer Survey (languages, frameworks, etc.): https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology
- Languish (GitHub + Stack Overflow data): https://github.com/tjpalmer/languish
- IEEE ranking: https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2025
- TIOBE Index: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
Caveats
- Statistics can be tricky - be cautious about how data is collected. TIOBE in particular can be misleading.
- Don’t choose a language just because it’s popular. Choose it based on the task at hand, the ecosystem, and the availability of developers in your market.
- A language is never just “the language”. You’re almost always choosing the whole ecosystem—from build tools to deployment mechanics. Take that into account.
