Best Programming Language for Mobile App Development

Mobile apps are just another piece of software and software, irrespective of purpose can be used to build by any language. At least in theory. In practice, however, the current mobile ecosystem is a virtual duopoly between Android and iOS and they both operate entirely different platforms and favor different sets of tools and languages. So unless you wish to spend your entire life building each and every component of your app yourself in the language of your choice, it’s a smart choice to use the official and popular languages that have a broad community of users. Keeping that in mind, here are the best languages for app development according to your platform of preference:

Native Android

Java

Java is the most widely used language in the world and is only one of the official languages of Android. In fact, even parts of Android OS itself are written in Java. While it is infamous for its verbosity and null point errors, the language is otherwise simple to learn and given its high interportability, comes in handy when integrating applications with other platforms.

Kotlin

Kotlin is a relatively new language that shot to popularity after it was accorded the status of an official language of Android. Basically, it offers the best parts of Java without any of its shortfalls. It is fully compatible with Java as well- to let you use Kotlin in existing Java code. if you are starting out as an Android developer, Kotlin offers a much better value proposition than Java.

Native iOS

Objective-C

This is the oldest language in this list and one of the oldest that’s still actively used on a large scale. For a long time, this was the only official language for iOS- thus leading to its immense popularity. Currently, however, it has largely lost relevance and is used only for ongoing and legacy products. If you are just starting out in the iOS development, there is little value that Objective-C can offer.

Swift

This currently the de facto language for building native iOS apps and if you wish to build one, you must learn Swift. The language takes many of its cues from Objective-C but is much easier to learn and less error-prone.

Cross-platform

C#

A product of Microsoft, C# is widely recognized as one of the most powerful yet versatile languages around but remains largely limited to Windows universe. Be it Windows desktop apps, client apps, backend apps, or even web apps, C# is well-equipped to build all of them. For mobile apps, it is used in conjunction with Xamarin- also a product of Microsoft, which compiles the C# code to iOS or Android binaries and works exactly like Swift or Kotlin work on their respective platforms. So if you wish to build mobile apps but don’t want to learn those official languages, C# can be quite a powerful tool in your skillset.

JavaScript

JavaScript has a long history in web development and for the most part, wasn’t even considered a full-scale language. But ever since the advent of hybrid apps, the language has seen an immense rise in popularity and is used by some of the most popular hybrid app development frameworks. Owing to the easy learning curve and lightweight, JavaScript has easily transitioned from a mere scripting tool to one of the best languages for app development.

Dart

This is the latest language on this list used by Google’s recently introduced Flutter SDK. Though the language is yet to gain wider traction, it is already being used by app development firms and holds a bright future. If you wish to learn a future proof language for mobile app development, Dart is the one you should opt for.