Mobile App Development Programming Languages of 2019

Name: Krify
Brand: Krify
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Updated on 12/06/2019, According to a survey by Blue Corona, people prefer using smartphones over laptops, desktops, or tablets. Transitioning to mobile phones and apps as integral parts of our lives, every industry in the global market increasingly relies on Best Mobile App Development. Additionally, nobody wants to be left isolated.

No doubt, best mobile app development is one of the most successful, emerging areas in the software development arena. Despite originating in 2008, the mobile app development industry has navigated a decade-long journey and holds a promising future ahead. This resilience is apparent even with the emergence of wearables and other apps.

With such a huge need for mobile apps; it’s a golden chance for any programmer to get into the world of mobile app development. Many apps have previously served as the primary source of income for businesses. However, initially, launching a new application poses several challenges for developers. One of the critical concern is which language is better in choosing the best programming languages for mobile app development. What are the most utilized languages among developers?

Mobile app Market overview and predictions

The mobile app market may seem oversaturated, as there are already over 4 billion above apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store combinedly.

However, this market continues to thrive, and that is not going to stop anytime soon. Forecast, as far as 2022, suggest that both the number of apps and the money people spend on them will keep growing.

According to AppAnnie, research on the mobile market and predicted that this is where the market apps will be by 2022.

The Best Mobile App Development Languages Available to learn and Develop your skills

Developers should be up-to-date with new skills and new programming languages (supporting both front-end and back-end) which are on high demand. Here is the list of programming languages of 2018 which are carefully composed. This would help you to select which programming language is best to choose for the application you are going to develop.

16.QML
15.TypeScript
14.Go
13. BuildFire
12. C++
11.Ruby
10. Objective C
9. Kotlin
8. C#
7. HTML5
6. Swift
5. C / C
4. JavaScript
3. PHP
2. Python
1. Java

This would help you to select which programming language is best to choose for the application you are going to develop.

16. QML

Qt Modeling Language Is used for the development of mobile applications, which is somewhat similar to JSON and CSS.

List of Applications developed in QML

Night Clock
Atlas
Music Doctor
Weather App
Shopping List remainder

Advantages of QML

Platform Support
Project Domain
Qt Itself

Disadvantages of QML

Ad support
Native user experience
Startup time

15. TypeScript

TypeScript is also known as Javascript with superpowers and is the open-source programming language. This is used for the development of frontend development, backend development, hybrid mobile app development and machine learning app development.

List of applications developed in TypeScript

Google

Advantages of TypeScript

Purely object-oriented programming
Used for client-side and server-side development
Provides a compiler that can convert to javaScript equivalent code
Has an API for DOM manipulation
Doesn’t need runtime plugin

Disadvantages of TypeScript

Learning Curve
Need development tool
Cannot easily be edited by content management systems
Short update cycles

14. Go

Go, also known as Golang, is a programming language built by Google. Golang provides excellent support for multithreading, and so, it is being used by a lot of companies. It has easy to embrace syntax and faster complication characteristics.

List of Applications developed in Go

Soundcloud
Google
Netflix

Advantages of Go

It’s easy to learn
Concurrency
Open source by nature
Static Code analysis
Comes with a built-in testing tool
Language is fast

Disadvantages of Go

Manual Memory management is an absence
Too simple
Error handling is not perfect
Runtime safety is not that good

13. BuildFire

BuildFire helps to develop robust applications using BuildFire SDK and JavaScript. This programming language is used by a lot of businesses, which eliminates the need for the developer to create an app from scratch. The BuildFire developer only needs to create a specific process for the company.

List of Applications developed in BuildFire

Erikson Institute
Horizon North
M.I.K.E.
Iris Global

Advantages of BuildFire

Easiest App building
Good Social Networking features
Advanced development options

Disadvantages of BuildFire

Not supported by a big company
Not enough feedback
No live chat

12. C++ Programming Language

C++ is widely favored among programming languages due to its speed and stability. It is sturdy and most robust language platform for the C++ developers. It’s one of the best programming languages for mobile app development. C++ provides STL – Standard Template Library is a pool of ready to use libraries for the various data structures, arithmetics operations and algorithms.

List of applications developed in C++

Adobe
Google Applications
MySQL
Mozilla Firefox
Thunderbird
Winamp Media Player

Advantages of C++

Has many compilers and libraries
Like C, C#, and Java have a very similar syntax to C++, make it easy to learn.
No garbage collector is working on the background.

Disadvantages of C++

The syntax is complex, and the standard library is small, making this language very difficult to learn for the beginner programmer.
C++ program can’t support garbage collection or Dynamic Memory Allocation
The object orientation system in C++ is unnecessarily basic compared to other languages.

11. Ruby

Ruby is a developer friendly language as it is a high-end language platform for the Ruby developers. It is used for web and mobile app development, and it shapes the basis of the Ruby on Rails structure. Ruby has clean syntax.

List of Applications developed in Ruby

SlideShare
Couchsurfing
ASKfm
Dribble
Twitter
Bloomberg
Airbnb
Shopify

Advantages of Ruby

Simplicity
Faster Development
Easy code maintenance and update
Cost Effective
Quality Product
Suitable for all business industries

Disadvantages of Ruby

Low runtime speed
Less boot speed
Slow Processing

10. Objective C

Objective C, an extension of the C programming language, was highly popular among Apple developers before the advent of Swift. However, despite Swift being a newer programming language, many app developers still rely on Objective C for iOS app development. This is because Objective C remains highly relevant for macOS, iOS, and their corresponding Cocoa Touch frameworks. Objective C is a superset of the C programming language and provides objective oriented capabilities and a dynamic runtime.

Advantages of Objective C

Readability
Maintenance
Safer Platform
Less Code and Legacy
Speed
Interactive Coding

Disadvantages of Objective C

Must know Objective-C
Need Mac and OSX Leopard
To be approved and vetted before distributing in the App Store
Apple’s timeline process is not yours.

9. Kotlin

Kotlin is a relatively native Android language that will probably replace Java at some point. It is an official Android app Development language, and the language has enjoyed a skyrocketing rise in its popularity to create Android apps within 2019. It has not only become one of the top best programming languages. Android app developers or Kotlin Developers an escape from drawbacks of Java and offers the features of interoperability with Java codes.

List of applications developed in Kotlin

Pinterest
Postmates
Evernote
Corda
Uber
Kickstarter

Advantages of Kotlin

Data Classes
Co-Routines
Extension Functions
Nul Safety
Data Serialization

Disadvantages of Kotlin

Still not Java
Fluctuating complication speed
Limited learning resources
Scarcely any Kotlin Experts to hire

8. C# Programming Language

C# is a multi-paradigm programming language, which is component and object-oriented. Microsoft designs it as a part of the .NET framework. It is used to build native mobile apps on Xamarin for both Android and IOS instead of writing separate apps in Java and Swift.

List of applications developed in C#

OLO Food App
Foundbite
Storyo
Captio
Vanderlande

Advantages of C#

Object-oriented language
Safer to run
Automatic garbage collection
More legible coding

Disadvantages of C#

Slower to run and compile
Less flexible
Doesn’t support multiple inheritances
No templates and therefore type-safe groups are not easy

7. HTML5 Programming Language

HTML5 is the fifth version of HTML, which is used to build web-based mobile apps. It alone cannot develop the app. Instead, it should be used with other languages like JavaScript. It supports multi-platform functionality.

List of applications developed in HTML5

Zoho books
Netflix
LinkedIn app
Zoho Docs

Advantages of HTML5

Cross-browser support
Develop games using canvas tags
Easy and clean coding
Supports videos and audios

Disadvantages of HTML5

Takes more time to build mobile applications
Doesn’t have adaptation control
Have media licensing issues
Security elements offered are restricted

6. Swift Programming Language

Swift has the potential to reshape the future. It is used for building high-performance, robust and interactive apps for IOS and Mac OS. There is an increasing usage across different platforms.

List of applications developed in Swift

Flappy IOS
Wire iPhone
Yep
WeChat
2048

Advantages of Swift

Extremely easy to learn if you know objective C
Improved safety and performance
Open source and easy to learn
Needless coding to develop an app

Disadvantages of Swift

The language is still young
Limited talent pool
Lack of support for earlier IOS versions
Poor interoperability with third-party tools and IDEs

5. C Programming Language

C, an old programming language, meshes well with modern developers due to its adaptability. Despite its age, it stands out as an object-oriented programming language. These have tons of features.

List of applications developed in C

Adobe
MySql
Winamp media player

Advantages of C

High function libraries
Fast and efficient
Portable
Object-oriented

Disadvantages of C

Code redundancy
Size of the program is incremental
Less efficiency
Lack of garbage collection

4. JavaScript Programming Language

JavaScript is known as one of the most popular languages among the developers and is used to develop hybrid mobile apps with the help of several libraries and frameworks like Node, Angular, jQuery, and React. Using this JavaScript knowledge, you can do front-end frameworks like Ember, Backbone, React, Angular and Node.js run time environment as well. Due to its flexibility and easy to grasp syntax creating apps in JS is easy. Once coded it can be released in all platforms.

List of mobile apps developed in JavaScript

Facebook Ads
Bloomberg
Air Asia app
Soundcloud Pulse
Townske

Advantages of JavaScript

Fast and efficient
Saves bandwidth
Highly interactive and dynamic
Single code base

Disadvantages of JavaScript

May not have access to the latest APIs
The app’s performance is slower compared to native usage.
Client-side security
Browser support is not always the same for the client-side script

3. PHP Programming Language

PHP is a server-side scripting language used to create android and ios apps. Apart from server-side scripting, it is also used for command line scripting and coding applications. The WYSIWYG interface offered by PHP gives developers a robust platform to create, test and deploy mobile apps.

List of mobile apps developed in PHP

E-commerce applications like Ubercart and Opencart
Facebook
School feed
Family Tree
Diamond Dash

Advantages of PHP

It has a centralized database
Open source and powerful library support
Cross-platform and easy to use
It’s recommended to utilize wireframes before proceeding to coding.

Disadvantages of PHP

Robust to use to program large applications
It is not extremely modular
Large applications are tough to keep up
Lack of options to modify core behaviour

2. Python Programming Language

Python is one of the most popular high-level and fast-growing programming languages and is used in app and web development. Moreover, Python’s ease of learning and excellent readability not only facilitate the creation of Android apps from scratch but also serve to eliminate overly complex syntax, thereby making it more accessible to learn. This helps to understand what’s going on inside a project quickly.

It can be utilized for various purposes and across different domains, such as:

Mobile App development
Web App Development
Game Development
Data Science
Machine Learning
Web Scripting
Internet of Thing(IoT)

List of apps and websites developed in Python

Dropbox
Instagram
Food Plus
Quora
World of Tanks

Advantages of Python

Object-oriented programming is driven
Supports multiple systems and platforms
Provide broad and extensive support libraries
Improved programmers productivity

Disadvantages of Python

Has limitations with database access
Slower in speed
Not suitable for multiprocessor / multi-core work
Run time errors

1. Java Programming Language

Java stands first in the most used mobile app development languages. It is trendy among developers as it runs on all platforms, including Android. It is an open source language having several real-time users.

List of mobile apps developed in Java

WordPress
Telecine
2048 (I think all have played it)
VLC media player
Bitcoin Wallet

Advantages of Java

Stable and enterprise computing
Code reusability and availability of third-party libraries
Automatic memory management implemented by Garbage Collection
Simple, fast and multi-threaded

Disadvantages of Java

In comparison to C and C++, it utilizes more memory.
A compiler is not well optimized
Basic classes in the class library lack important features
Poor features in GUI

Weekly Top Mobile App Development Language Take-Aways: While you may have grasped the programming languages for building mobile apps in 2018, the process of transitioning to selecting a specific language for your app isn’t easy. Hire a mobile app developer who will understand your real requirements and design an application which communicates clearly with your target audience. Krify is one of the leading mobile development companies having a professional and well-established team. Get a mobile app as per your business requirements at most affordable prices. High quality is our assurance and customer satisfaction is our priority. Happy and looking forward to serving you.