What is the BEST Backend Language For You?

Summary

This video offers an unbiased comparison of programming languages for web APIs, focusing on their ecosystems, performance, scalability, security, and developer experience. JavaScript, C#, PHP, Go, Java, Python, Ruby, and Rust are discussed, with insights into their strengths and weaknesses. The video concludes with a personal ranking, highlighting C# as the top choice for back-end development, and encourages viewers to consider project needs and personal preferences when selecting a language.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **JavaScript**: Known for its large community and ecosystem, JavaScript offers extensive libraries and frameworks. Despite misconceptions, Node.js performs well, but its single-threaded nature can limit multi-threading capabilities.
• 🔄 **C#**: With a robust ecosystem and community, C# supports asynchronous programming and multi-threading. It allows memory control for optimization and is highly scalable, offering a wide range of security options.
• 📉 **PHP**: Despite a decrease in popularity, PHP remains popular for older websites. It offers decent performance and multi-threading capabilities but is often criticized for security flaws and dynamic typing that can lead to vulnerabilities.
• 🚀 **Go (Golang)**: Golang is one of the fastest languages, with good multi-threading support. It's highly scalable and suitable for microservices. However, its smaller ecosystem and the need for careful security practices are noted.
• 🌟 **Java**: Java is popular with a large ecosystem, offering multi-threading and strong security features. It's known for high memory usage but is relatively easy to learn despite requiring boilerplate code.
• 🐍 **Python**: Python has a large community and good web frameworks but suffers from slower performance compared to others. Its multi-threading has limitations, and while it's scalable, its efficiency affects this.
• 💎 **Ruby**: Ruby, though less popular, is still widely used with a variety of libraries. It's one of the slowest languages with slower multi-threading, and scaling can be complicated.
• ⚒️ **Rust**: Rust has a small community due to its complexity but offers the highest performance and innovative memory management. It's highly scalable and secure, though its steep learning curve is a significant barrier.
• 🏆 **C# Ranked Best**: The script ranks C# as the best overall language for multi-purpose back-end development, highlighting its versatility and robust feature set.
• 🛠️ **Developer Expertise**: The capabilities of these languages are ultimately limited by the competence and expertise of the developers, emphasizing the importance of skill and experience in language choice.

Q & A

What are the key factors to consider when choosing a language for web API development?

When choosing a language for web API development, consider factors such as community and ecosystem size, performance, asynchronous and multi-threading capabilities, scalability, security options, developer experience, and the language's learning curve.

How does JavaScript perform in terms of asynchronous tasks and multi-threading?

JavaScript isn't technically asynchronous as it runs async tasks on a single thread. It has been criticized for its lack of multi-threading support, which is crucial for maximum efficiency. However, JavaScript can use workers, which are similar to multi-threading, though they come with complexity and performance overhead.

What advantages does C# offer for web API development?

C# offers a huge ecosystem and community, good performance capabilities, support for asynchronous programming and multi-threading, memory control for optimization, and a wide range of security options. It has a steeper learning curve but is relatively easy to pick up and integrates well with IDEs.

Is PHP still a relevant language for web development despite its decreased popularity?

Yes, PHP is still a relatively popular language for web development due to its reliance on older websites and the fact that many developers enjoy using it. It offers a wide range of libraries and frameworks, and while it's not as fast as some other languages, it provides decent performance and scalability.

What are some misconceptions about PHP's security?

A big misconception is that PHP is not a secure language, which stems from its early days when it had many security flaws. However, PHP is not inherently insecure; it's more about the dynamic typing and potential for developers to make mistakes, rather than the language itself being insecure.

How does Go (Golang) compare to other languages in terms of performance and scalability?

Go is one of the fastest languages in the list and is highly scalable, making it great for microservices. It provides good options for multi-threading and has improved its garbage collection over time. However, its ecosystem is smaller, which can lead to developers writing more functionality on their own.

What are some challenges developers might face when using Go for web development?

Developers using Go might face challenges due to its smaller ecosystem, which requires writing more functionality on their own, and the need to be more careful about security. Additionally, Go's use of pointers and garbage collection has faced criticism, although this is not a significant concern for most applications.

Why is Java still popular despite its memory usage?

Java is popular because it has a large ecosystem, similar efficiency to PHP and C#, and is known for being very secure with strong type and memory safety. It provides multi-threading support and, despite using more memory, it remains a preferred choice for many developers.

How does Python's performance impact its suitability for web API development?

Python's performance is a limiting factor as it's slower than other options, and its multi-threading has limitations that prevent the CPU from working at maximum efficiency. While it has decent scalability, it's heavily affected by its overall efficiency.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Ruby for web API development?

Ruby offers a wide variety of libraries and is known for its ease of learning and rich standard library. However, it is one of the slowest languages, and its multi-threading is also slower than other languages. It can become complicated to scale and, despite having good tooling for security, its dynamic typing can lead to more vulnerabilities.

Why might Rust be a good choice for web API development despite its complexity?

Rust is a good choice for web API development because it is the most performant option, offers innovative memory management with memory safety guarantees, and provides powerful multi-threading capabilities. It's highly scalable and great for writing secure applications due to its strict compiler and memory safety enforcement.

What does the video suggest about the importance of developer expertise in language choice?

The video suggests that the capability of these languages is limited by the competence and expertise of the developers working with them. It emphasizes that the choice of language should consider the project scale and personal preference, and that the developer's skill level plays a significant role in the effectiveness of the chosen language.