Most Popular Programming Language for Learning to Code in 2024

Stack Overflow’s 2024 Developer Survey just dropped, with Python ranking the most popular programming language among people learning to code. This finding tracks with our Codecademy community’s taste: Our Learn Python 3 course is the most popular in our catalog, meaning it’s the course learners visit and enroll in the most.

Millions of experienced developers and newbies choose Python. This year, the annual Stack Overflow Developer survey looked at over 65,000 responses from people in 185 countries. Most respondents are full-time professional developers, but the survey also includes people learning to code, hobbyists, and folks who write code sometimes as part of their work or studies.

Why Python is the most popular language for learners

Survey participants were asked to name the programming, scripting, and markup languages they have extensive experience with, and select the ones they’d like to keep working with. In the category of people who are learning how to code, 66% said they like Python the most.

Folks at the start of their learning journey gravitate towards Python since its syntax is clear, concise, and reads like plain English. The creator of Python, Guido Van Rossum, intentionally designed the syntax so that a total newbie could easily grasp new programming concepts. Here’s a Python code snippet for a program that calculates the factorial of a number. Take a look at the straightforward syntax:

def factorial(n):
    if n == 0:
        return 1
    else:
        return n * factorial(n - 1)

# Example usage
number = 5
result = factorial(number)
print(f"The factorial of {number} is {result}")

Another Python perk is its versatility across web development, machine learning, data science, and financial analysis. When you’re first learning to code, you may not know which programming domain interests you the most. With Python, you can go in learning the basics of web dev and have the flexibility to expand to data analysis and machine learning later on. Plus, Python has tons of pre-written libraries, tools, and frameworks that boost what you can do with the language. 

The survey responses from professional developers were slightly different than the group of learners, with 65% claiming JavaScript as their favorite followed by SQL, HTML/CSS, and then Python. Professional developers often use lots of different languages based on their organization’s tech stack or their own expertise and job responsibilities. If you’re a professional developer looking to refine your skills in one of these languages, be sure to check out our intermediate and advanced courses.

More programming languages for learning to code

So, what are the other programming languages that people (like you!) learning to code rank highly? Here are the most popular programming, scripting, and markup languages, according to those who are learning to code (plus beginner-friendly courses to get you started):

Python

Try it: Learn Python 3

HTML/CSS

Try it: Learn HTML, Learn CSS

JavaScript

Try it: Learn JavaScript

Java

Try it: Learn Java

C++

Try it: Learn C++

SQL

Try it: Learn SQL

C

Try it: Learn C

Bash/Shell

Try it: Learn the Command Line

TypeScript

Try it: Learn TypeScript

C#

Try it: Learn C#

If you’re overwhelmed by all of these languages to choose from, the free Codecademy course Choosing a Programming Language can help find the right fit for you. We’ll cover key factors and guide you to the best Codecademy courses and skill paths.

Start learning Python today

Ready to take the Python plunge? We recommend kicking things off with our introductory course Learn Python 3, then taking the free course Getting Started with Python for Data Science for hands-on experience working with real datasets in Python. If you want to get into web development, try Build Python Web Apps with Django or Build Python Web Apps with Flask. Explore our 130-plus Python courses and projects to get a sampling of everything the language has to offer.

For more in-depth findings, be sure to read the full Stack Overflow 2024 Developer Survey.