Which programming languages ​​are most popular at hackathons?

Choosing which programming language to learn can be a stressful question. Whenever you think about it, the popular programming languages ​​​​may not be popular in a year, let alone the programming languages ​​​​that can help you get a good job.

So, when programmers are not working for their bosses and are working on personal projects purely out of interest, it is worth paying attention to what programming languages ​​they use.

So, let’s start with the hackathon.

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ChallengePost, the backend architecture tool used in many hackathons (including the ones we host before every TechCrunch Disrupt), got a new name this morning: Devpost. At the celebration party, they shared a lot about what they've been up to over the past year.

Which mobile platform had the most exposure at the hackathon? Which programming language was the most popular? Which APIs were called the most?

After hosting 160 hackathons and working with 13,281 hackers on nearly 10,000 projects, they got some answers. You can check out the full report here , but I want to highlight a few interesting things below:

Which mobile platform has the most fans? Android accounts for 38.2%, iOS is second with 22.7%, Windows Phone accounts for 4.9%, and the remaining 34.2% is divided among other non-mainstream systems.

The top 10 languages ​​at the Devpost hackathon were:

1. HTML/CSS (see note below)
2. JavaScript
3. Python
4. Java
5. C/C++
6. PHP
7. Objective-C
8. C#
9. Swift
10. JSON (not really a programming language, but it’s on the list for a reason, so I added it at #11)
11. Ruby

It’s no surprise that HTML, CSS, and JavaScript top the list (let’s not talk about the “scripting language” vs. “programming language” debate). They’re highly error-tolerant, don’t require a compiler, and run in a browser instead of a specific operating system, so they’re increasingly the languages ​​of choice for new programmers to get started with. If you walk into a room full of strangers and try to find a development team (which happens all the time at hackathons), there’s a good chance they know these three languages.

Note: HTML is not really a "programming" language - it's a markup language, used to mark up and output document elements. But it is a language, and quite a few web programmers use it every day, so let's not get into the literal meaning debate for now.

It's surprising that Swift has climbed so quickly - remember, Apple only released it 13 months ago.

What about the usage of the API?

Devpost did not compare all APIs together, but instead classified them into categories, and the tools in each category are quite outstanding.

Who is the best communication API? The answer is Twilio. What about social? Facebook (tsk~), followed by Twitter (tsk~) What about payment? Venmo beat Paypal to the top of the list, and Stripe surprisingly only ranked third. ***Without any suspense, Google Maps won the top spot in the geographic API list.

Twilio's win in the communications category is very convincing because it is extremely active in hackathons. I always see it at every hackathon, even though it is just one of many unofficial recommendations. Twilio requires every new employee to complete a project using its API. Twilio co-founded Major League Hacking, which focuses on student hackathons around the world.

In the game category, Unity dominated the market with more than 1,000 Unity projects submitted. Pygame ranked second with less than 50 projects.

Devpost seems to be trying to start a holy war and has also counted the usage of text editors. The winner is Sublime Text, which is also my choice. This article was written in this software (the translator also completed the translation here).

What about projects that combine both software and hardware?

Arduino is the king of hacker hardware, and it's a well-deserved choice. It's versatile enough to be remade for many lightweight electronics projects, and cheap enough that you won't feel bad if you break two or three. It's easy to hack and use. It's followed by a number of special-purpose devices: the Myo gesture control armband, the Pebble smartwatch, the Leap motion gesture controller, and the Oculus Rift VR headset. Surprisingly, the flexible and cheap Raspberry Pi is only sixth.

Note: The above data is a joke and does not fully reflect the real situation. The top five programming languages ​​are all worth learning, but they are not recommended as professional references. If you are still hesitating about which language to learn, my suggestion is to choose a language with high error tolerance (JavaScript is worth a try), concentrate on understanding the essence of programming, and carefully compare every nuance. If someone tells you that you have chosen the wrong introductory language and you should learn "the most popular language in 2015", ignore them.