From using apps on lunch breaks to quitting jobs and becoming full-time content creators, social media apps play a huge part in daily life. Businesses even use them for marketing purposes or to generate awareness. Additionally, they’ve found their way into the hiring process by attracting candidates through posts (i.e. images or videos) of company culture.

Behind every top social media app are the elements that make it function. One of the tools of app development is the programming language used.

Programming Languages in App Development

Programming languages serve as a part of the foundation of an app. They work behind the scenes as back-end development tools. Being able to code is a skill necessary for app development because essential tools such as programming languages rely on it. Everything is built on how well the language of an app functions so it’s important to choose a programming language that fits the goal and purpose of the app.

Let’s look at the top 5 programming languages for social media app development:

  1. Java

A veteran in the development community, Java is one of the most used development tools and has been around for over 2 decades. It has a solid structure that is quick and secure. Developers use Java since it doesn’t require the use of a compiler due to its JVM, or Java Virtual Machine. This can speed up the development process as well.

  1. PHP

Another top and reliable programming language, PHP has excellent software that helps with social networking. Facebook is one of the many large corporations that uses this programming language to make its platform run smoothly.

  1. .NET

.NET is not considered a programming language. Instead, it’s a framework (another back-end development tool) that was created by Microsoft. It’s also responsible for aiding developers in producing some major social media platforms.

  1. Perl

Despite being released before Java, Perl didn’t pick up as much steam or popularity among developers like Java did. Nonetheless, it’s known for being faster than most newer languages and produces stable code. Perl works best when creating dynamic web pages.

  1. Python

This programming language is often compared with Java in many categories. It’s faster than Java, though not as secure, and was created to be easier to use. The learning curve for Python is much lower than Java but it’s only used in the back-end development process. Companies such as YouTube, Reddit, and Pinterest implement Python in their systems.

Summary

It’s difficult to compare programming languages as a whole since most app development projects will be used for various purposes. The 5 mentioned here are at the top of the long—and growing—list of programming languages the developer community prefers. For social media app development, all elements of the production process need to be able to handle not only the creation of an app and its large amounts of code but what that app could turn into. It can be a painstaking process to switch development elements once an app has been created, which means picking the right development tools should be a priority.