Which 5 Programming Languages Are Poised to Surge in the Coming Years?

Dice Insights again released a list of five programming languages that are projected to see a sharp increase in usage over the next few years. The conclusions are derived from extensive data analysis, including TIOBE, RedMonk rankings and the platform’s own hiring database, yielding some expected and some surprising results.

Swift

Apple aims to replace Objective‑C with Swift. After 35 years of Objective‑C, Apple introduced Swift five years ago, and RedMonk’s long‑term rankings show its usage soaring. While legacy Objective‑C code makes a complete transition difficult, Apple’s growing pressure suggests Swift will become the core language for Apple applications, especially as cross‑platform plans accelerate its development.

Kotlin

Kotlin has risen dramatically, largely because Google promoted it to a first‑class language for Android development. This reduces Google’s reliance on Java, which has been entangled in legal disputes with Oracle. Developers appreciate Kotlin’s safety features—especially null‑safety—its extension functions, seamless Java interop, and data classes. However, Kotlin’s growth may be limited outside the Android ecosystem.

Python

Python remains a massive, widely‑used language. The TIOBE index shows its popularity continuously climbing, even threatening other languages. With a strong user base and extensive business applications, Python’s disappearance in the short term is unlikely. The open question is how far it will expand and which industries it will dominate next.

Groovy

Groovy’s rise in the TIOBE ranking is driven by broad IDE support, its similarity to Java, and integration with the popular automation server Jenkins. It often serves as the “glue” language in many systems, suggesting a bright future.

TypeScript

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript. Some view it as not a “full” language because it compiles to JavaScript, yet RedMonk and GitHub monthly reports show rapid growth, and TIOBE hints that TypeScript is beginning to eat into JavaScript’s market share. Many experts believe TypeScript still has significant development space in the coming years.

These five languages—Swift, Kotlin, Python, Groovy, and TypeScript—are the ones Dice predicts will have a bright future. Do you agree?