Programming language

Programming languages offer ways of expressing algorithms and data structures. Just as we will never likely see one universal spoken language or one universal written language, we will likely always have multiple programming languages. Most general-purpose programming languages already encapsulate all the required features to express a solution to any solvable problem.

Each language has strengths and weaknesses. Some languages are better for some programming tasks than others, but there is no one best language for all projects. Different languages support different approaches to problem-solving, or different ways of organizing solutions to problems. Choosing a language can be a very subjective process, even in a team of experienced software engineers, and the intrinsic merits of specific languages are only one piece of the puzzle.

Note that many beginners erroneously believe that the choice/mix/number of programming languages they know is the most important thing to an employer. It isn’t. Knowing the fundamentals, the underlying concepts, the paradigms, and general problem-solving skills are much more important than which specific set of languages you’re proficient in. Not matter what language or set of languages you know today, you can count on having to learn new ones during the course of your career. I learned several languages very well before my first full-time programming job, and I had to learn a brand new language the very first day on that job.

As you learn more languages, you gain an appreciation for the different approaches they take, and the underlying reasons why the language designers did what they did.