By 2030, it is estimated that the global Health market will reach USD 56 billion. The majority of users prefer to be able to consult with a physician remotely. Doctors, for example, will be able to monitor a patient’s physical conditions and adjust treatment if necessary based on wearable data sent by the patient.

Therefore, software development firms strive to offer their services to health care providers and win over consumers.

What are the best programming languages for healthcare applications?

Medical apps cannot be created in a universal language. Consider the type of product (mobile or desktop), its features, design, platform (iOS, Android, Windows, etc.), and budget before making your choice. To be cross-platform (i.e. it can be used on both a smartphone and a PC), your app needs to be native.

A type of application

Machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence are being used to develop many medical products today. By analyzing patient data, they can predict diseases more accurately. Applications for these systems are usually written in languages such as R, Python, Java, C++, and Go. You should use Java or Kotlin for iOS and Objective-C or Swift for Android if working with mobile solutions.

Supportive community and tutorials

For a healthcare application, it makes sense to use a popular programming language, so that you can find documentation and guides. The development process can be greatly simplified and accelerated by using open-source libraries and frameworks. When a language becomes more popular, there will be more developers on the market, and you will pay less for their services than specific specialists.

Safety

Privacy regulations need to be followed when it comes to healthcare apps. You must ensure that your solution is secure since it will have personal information. Python, JavaScript, C++, and PHP are languages that are known for their security. As part of HIPAA, companies can share customer information securely and safely.

Creating medical digital solutions using the top programming languages

Python

Guido Van Rossum created Python as a high-level programming language in 1991. It can be used to make a wide variety of products, including web applications, games, desktop programs, databases, and more. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are among the most popular uses of this language. Among developers who design solutions for the processing of large amounts of data, it is the language most commonly used.

Java

Sun Microsystems developed Java in 1995, an object-oriented programming language. The Java Virtual Machine executes Java software solutions by converting them into byte code. Due to Java’s popularity and helpful documentation, the language has a large community of support. For example, Austrian e-Health uses Java as its programming language.

Swift

Apple developed Swift to write apps for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The performance of Python 2.7 is almost 8.4 times better than that of Objective-C. Swift is designed so that it can identify errors during development and make corrections accordingly.

R

Researchers at the University of Auckland developed the R programming language in 1993. Among its features are data collection and data cleansing, the creation of tables, statistical tests, and reports, as well as the ability to process tables. According to the TIOBE rankings, it ranked 18th in 2016 and moved up 10 places to rank 8th in 2021.

Kotlin

JetBrains created Kotlin in 2016 as a statically typed programming language. Besides building mobile apps for Android and iOS, web-based apps, desktop applications, and software to process big data, this technology is used to build cross-platform mobile apps. As a Java developer, you can switch to Kotlin or both languages easily.

Final words

The development of healthcare apps is therefore a promising business today. You need to prepare well if you hope to bring your product to this market and climb to success. This preparation includes choosing a programming language that matches your solution.