Top 10 Programming Languages for Blockchain App Development

1. Solidity

Solidity is the most used and stable Blockchain Programming language recommended by developers worldwide. Whether you are a fresher or an experienced professional, you can comfortably gain skills to adhere to this programming language.

Solidity programming language is statically typed curly-braces designed for developing smart contracts to run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Proposed by Gavin Wood in 2014, the smart brain behind the development of Solidity influenced by Java, C++, and PowerShell is Vitalik Buterin, the developer of Ethereum. With this basic information let’s move forward towards the pros and cons of the Solidity:

• Pros

1. Statically typed Blockchain Programming language - Solidity provides a stable and more flexible coding pattern for smart contracts ;
2. User-friendly - Easy-to-use feature of Solidity makes it flexible;
3. Provides high accuracy rate – Solidity provides a secure, reliable and accurate medium for various sources in framing smart contracts between two parties.
4. Application Binary Interface (ABI) - Multiple type-safe functions are present in Solidity because of ABI.

• Cons

1. Inherently difficult to reason about – In Solidity once a contract is made it cannot be altered if needed. Additional feature cannot be added to the contract;
2. Sometimes it might fail to achieve sufficient code coverage concerning smart contracts;
3. Deficiency of centralized documentation of known vulnerabilities.

2. Java

Java, one of the most popular programming languages, is also used to frame some prominent Blockchain Programming of Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, IOTA, NEO, etc.

Discovered in 1995 by James Gosling, this programming language supports heavy Application Programming Interface (API) which includes class-based object-oriented programming. The API, OOP, and Portability are the most used features of Java in Blockchain Programming.

• Pros

1. Independent platform – Java is a platform-independent language, that is because of its Write Once Run Anywhere (WORA) feature ;
2. Developer friendly - Non-rigidity for developers makes it easier to use;
3. Secure interface- Java reduces security threats by avoiding the use of explicit pointers. The security manager in Java allows us to define access rules for a class.
4. Multithreaded and dynamic- More than one thread can run at a time in java (thread is the smallest unit of a process), and multi-threading leads to optimum utilization of the CPU, which makes it more flexible.

• Cons

1. Memory Consuming- it is slower in performance as compared to C or C++ and is more memory consuming;
2. Java provides no backup facilities- it only focuses on memory which makes it less popular among the developers;
3. Different from native applications- it is verbose, which means it contains many keywords and consists of long and complex coding.

3. Python

As a fresher Python can be the best programming language to choose for Blockchain Programming between all of these, as it has comparatively shortcodes and is easier to use. You can choose different resources and plug-ins as Python is an open-source language. Dynamically it supports OOP and is prominently used in Blockchain Development, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

The Graphic User Interface that helps in creating applications such as PyQt5, Tk, etc. are the most popular options in Blockchain Programming.

• Pros

1. Extensible features - Python executes the line one by one which makes it easier to detect and debug errors;
2. Object-Oriented Programming language - Due to simplicity of this language users can focus more time on understanding the coding rather than framing syntax;
3. Extensive library - You don’t have to depend on external libraries as python’s own library is huge;
4. Comparatively short codings - It’s English-like syntax makes it easy to use and access.

• Cons

1. Weak in cell phone devices - It is rigid for phones;
2. Frequent run-time errors - Python is a dynamically typed language which means sometimes data type of variables can be changed, the string might hold and integer value causing errors in the output;
3. Memory consuming language - As it occupies an ample amount of memory it takes more time for execution.

4. C++

C++ one of the top 10 programming languages, was discovered in 1985 by Bjarne Stroustrup.

Blockchain Programming developers support the use of C++ as it is decently abundant in terms of run-time polymorphism, function overloading, and multi-threading. It allows developers to mold the data according to their needs. It is highly used in the development of some Blockchain programming such as Stellar, Ripple, Bitcoin, etc.

• Pros

1. Structured programming language - It is Object-Oriented Programming language which makes it much easier than other binary coding languages;
2. Data hiding makes it secure - Global data and functions are used in C++ unlike many high-level programming languages;
3. Developer-friendly - Easy to be used;
4. Comparatively rapid and powerful - It is a multi-paradigm language and its execution time is faster as compared to Java.

• Cons

1. Doesn’t support Dynamic Memory Allocation - It does not support garbage pickup;
2. Complexity increases with the length of coding;
3. Platform Specific Language - It is commonly used for platform-specific applications, unlike Java.

5. Ruby

Ruby, with great memory allocation capabilities, was developed in Japan by Yukihiro Matsumoto. The main focus of this language is simplicity and productivity which makes it developer-friendly and easy to handle along with this it supports cross platforms.

Ruby enables developers to frame Blockchain Programming through third-party APIs and plugins. It allows multi-paradigm, which means developers can use cross platforms to develop Blockchain Programming.

• Pros

1. It is a Multi-Paradigm Language;
2. Rail frameworks have a huge and strong developer community (Ruby on Rails);
3. Can be installed in Windows as well as PIOX.

• Cons

1. Difficult to debug and generates run-time error occasionally;
2. It has lower Flexibility and is not that popular among developers;
3. Its Processing speed is comparatively low.

6. Go

The Go language, also referred to as Golang, is a compiled and statically typed programming language. Go is preferred by many developers worldwide for Blockchain Programming development because of its prominent features. Golang is developer-friendly, easy-to-use, rapid, and non-rigid which is beneficial for fresher as well as tech freaks.

The most appreciated Blockchain programming developments by GO language are: Go-Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric.

• Pros

1. Run-time Efficiency - Languages having virtual runtime usually outperform usual programming languages like Golang;
2. Smooth web application building - It is a static language but gives the developer the feel of a dynamic language. As it is static many syntax errors can be avoided and web application building becomes easier;
3. Garbage collection - This language is designed for efficient and effective developers who want to wrap up their task as quickly as possible which is easier because of this feature of Golang;
4. Organized typing - Syntaxes are organized.

• Cons

1. Error Handling - if error tracking is lost, use of repair function is required which makes the developer write long blocks to find the error ;
2. Still new in the market - Being young in the tech world developers find it difficult to access some of its libraries ;
3. No niche like Java - Without niche or generic, its codes cannot be reused again like other languages;
4. Comparatively fewer packages - However, the amount of packages is growing still the standard library of Go is filled with characteristics that do not need third-party assistance.

7. C#

C# is one of the most popular open-source programming languages developed by Microsoft and is pronounced as "C Sharp". According to Visual studio magazine, there are approximately 5 to 8 million developers worldwide using C#. Some popular Blockchain programming that uses C# includes Stratis, NEO, and IOTA. C# uses simple Object-Oriented, and Extensible Markup Language or methods without the help of the developer.

• Pros

1. Rich library class makes it easier for developers to use menu functions and implement them at the coding bus stop.
2. Memory loss is not a problem for developers using C#, unlike C++ programmers.
3. Assembly concept makes the issue of version control easier and handles it well.
4. It can act as a support for the distributed system.

• Cons

1. A programmer cannot access low-level things like using and interacting directly with hardware through drivers and firmware.
2. It does not have an independent compiler.
3. It uses byte codes and the JIT compiler as a link between machine code and hardware which makes the execution process lengthy and time taking.

8. Simplicity

Before simplicity blockchain programs developed ideas expressive or reliable. The expressive ones were lengthy and had an unreliable smart contract or else they were very basic but reliable ones. Simplicity was developed by Rachelle O'Connor and is highly focused on decreasing low-level understanding of cryptocurrencies.

Simplicity was developed to be in harmony with Blockstream's Elements platform. It is seen as an opportunity to open up to Liquid Network users such as trust-reduced escrow, vault, and other sophisticated smart contracts.

• Pros

1. Languages ​​other than Simplify are not found to be reliable as funds are reported to be stolen or cannot be recovered due to reasonable contractual errors and codes exposing their service limits.
2. Recently, the development of EVM failed during the testing process because usage does not match the result of the calculation.
3. Simplicity overcomes all these limitations of other languages and is a secure and reliable application for blockchain programming.

• Cons

1. The code optimizers can still be developed.
2. It is still left to combine functional and formal correctness of cryptographic protocols for the smart contracts to be fully verified.

9. Rholang

The Rholang programming language can also be added to the list of blockchain programming languages. It is comparatively new to the tech world and is an easier language as you can understand the syntax you had written on the screen, which relieves the cognitive burden that most developers experience. It basically runs on the  Rchain world.

• Pros

1. It is reliable and Secure.
2. User-friendly - The flexibility of the Rolang language makes it easy to use.
3. It is designed for Speed in blockchain programming.

• Cons

It is still new in the market and fewer users know about it. It might not be difficult for a tech professional to use undeveloped blockchain programming from this language but it might create difficulties for a newbie.

10. PHP

PHP that stands for (Hypertext Preprocessor) was created in the year 1994 by a Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf. The recent version of the program 8.0.13 was released on 19 November, 5 days ago.

The standard PHP is an open-source and platform-independent language, powered by Zend Engine, and can be developed on various operating systems. It has an extensible library in its source distribution which simplifies the work of blockchain developers.

PHP being a popular programming language is used to develop blockchain programming and is also recommended by several web application developers. The PHP language evolved until 2014, without a written formal specification but from 2014, formal PHP specification was used.

• Pros

1. The most prominent advantage of PHP is that it is an open-source programming language. It can be installed and used readily.
2. PHP is a platform-independent language and it can be used along with any operating system like Windows, Linux, etc.
3. It is simple and straightforward so it takes less time in learning and working on it becomes easier.
4. Its built-in database connection module relieves the trouble and time taken for the development of web applications.

• Cons

1. It is not the best choice for huge content-based web applications.
2. It does not allow modification in the core functions and methodologies of online applications.
3. Runtime errors are frequent.
4. PHP is tough to manage as it imitates the features of the Java language.

Conclusion

After learning about the top 10 prominent web applications that can be used in the development of blockchain programming you might be thinking about which one goes with your project well. 

From a variety of courses available on Simplilearn, you can choose one depending upon your need and the project you are planning to do, and sharpen your saw. If you are among the ones who are willing to take courses or training then we are here to help you. If you want to build and scale up your blockchain career then enroll in Simplilearn's Professional Certificate Program In Blockchain.